By Naa Shormei Odonkor
Kumasi, Nov. 27, GNA – Students have been urged to use their social media handles to propagate peace before, during and after the December elections.
Mr Lolo Amevinya, Senior Associate of the Leadership Network for Ghana, who made the call, pointed out that, social media was a powerful space where people could be easily influence by what they saw and heard.
It is important for the youth to make judiciuos use of social media to campaign for peace ahead of the elections.
Mr Amevinya was speaking at a peaceful election campaign programme organized by the Leadership Network for Ghana in partneship with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) for students of the Mancell Girls’ Senior High Technical School in Kumasi.
The campaign targeted first-time voters in the Senior High Schools in some selected regions of the country to educate them on their civic rights and responsibilities, the voting process and how to conduct themselves on election day.
Again, it focused on empowering students to use their social media handles, such as Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and others, to propagate peace before, during and after the general election.
Mr. Amevinya said social media, when not utilized responsibly, was a dangerous place for cyberbullying, the spread of fake news, hate speeches and others.
He observed that recently, faithful political party netizens had adopted the use of hate speeches to tarnish the image of members of opposing political parties irrespective of its effect on the parties.
Therefore, Mr. Amevinya advised students to think carefully about the impact of whatever they wanted to post on social media as well as verify the information before posting.
“Even if you verify its authenticity, think carefully about it as to whether it’s helpful and will promote peace before you post the information,” he said.
Ms. Diana Bempong, the Ashanti Regional Head of Programs for the NCCE, said a person, who was qualified to vote according to the law must be 18 years old and above, a Ghanaian citizen, registered to vote and of sound mind.
She said voting would begin at 0070 hours and end at 1700 hours, hence, students who were eligible to vote should go early to the polling station to exercise their franchise and go home.
Ms. Bempong stated that the law disallowed political campaigns on election day and entreated students to avoid going to the polling station clothed in political party colours.
She advised the students to vote for candidates who were interested in developing the country and not vote for candidates based on religion or ethnicity.
GNA