By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), Nov. 11, GNA – The Wa Municipal Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) has held a dialogue for the election 2024 parliamentary candidates in the Wa Central Constituency to create a platform for the candidates to respond to concerns of the electorate.
It was also to create an avenue for the candidates to inform the electorate of their planned interventions to address some pressing issues of concern to the electorates should anyone win the election.
The forum was organised under the auspices of the Wa Municipal Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) as part of its mandate to empower the electorates to make an informed decision at the polls.
Speaking at the dialogue forum in Wa at the weekend, Naa Abdul-Razak Abdulai, the IPDC Chairperson, indicated that being informed about the vision and plans of the parliamentary candidates would enable the voters make informed choices of who to represent the constituency in parliament in 2025.
The debate centred on six key areas – education, road infrastructure, employment, health, agriculture, and the economy.
Mr Sebastian Ziem, a Chief Investigator at the Upper West Regional Office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), facilitated the dialogue.
He explained that such fora were the best platforms for the aspirants to understand the concerns and expectations of the electorates and share their vision with them as they sought their mandates.
“For anybody to make an informed decision or choice in respect of our democracy, you need to have relevant information.
This is also a way of sustaining participatory democracy because the electorates have the opportunity to ask questions, which was unique from the normal campaigns where the politicians only talk to the electorate without hearing from them,” Mr Ziem explained.
Mr Nurudeen Mumuni, the Wa Municipal Director of NCCE, indicated that the inter-party dialogue session was part of several flagship programmes of the Commission to reduce acrimony and promote dialogue between members of the various political parties to ensure peace prevailed throughout the election season.
He said the six areas for the debates were determined through a survey by the NCCE, which suggested that those were the key issues of concern to the electorate.
There are four parliamentary candidates in the Wa Central constituency – the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the People’s National Convention (PNC) candidates, and an Independent Parliamentary candidate.
However, only the NDC and the PNC parliamentary candidates turned up for the dialogue.
Mr Yakubu Zakaria, the PNC parliamentary candidate, told the electorates he would absorb examination fees of all basic school learners in the constituency, address the furniture challenges in all basic schools, and support farmers in the constituency with farm inputs including fertilizer.
Dr. Hassan Rashid Pelpuo, the NDC parliamentary candidate, re-echoed the provision of the NDC election 2024 manifesto that sought to address the challenges in education, Agriculture, and the economy, among others.
Some issues raised by the electorates at the forum included improving access to quality education for Persons with Disabilities.
GNA