By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Nov. 15, GNA — Madam Kathleen Addy, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has said that parliamentary candidates who boycott the commission’s nationwide election dialogue will miss a great opportunity to interact with electorates.
“It is such a missed opportunity for the candidates who are unable to come,” she said, adding that “it is also a sign of disregard and disrespect to the people who will vote for them.”
Madam Addy said this during a parliamentary candidates’ dialogue for the Tema Central constituency organised by the Tema Metro Office of the NCCE, in collaboration with the Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) and Plan B FM, with support from the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC).
The dialogue, which was on the theme “Together We Can Build Ghana, So Get Involved,” saw two out of three candidates, Mr Charles Forson, New Patriotic Party (NPP), and Mr Frederick Aniagyei, an independent candidate, putting across their policies to the constituents.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Ms Ebi Bright, was unable to participate in the dialogue due to other engagements.
She added that “the IPDC is made up of very respectable people in the constituency, so when they extend a hand to you, it’s fair that you come.”
According to her, the dialogue provided the opportunity for the candidates to reach out to those who were not part of their followers and addressed the issues of the voters.
The NCCE Chairperson further noted that having the candidates on one platform to discuss issues without misunderstanding also signals to the youth that they must not engage in violent acts to get people elected.
Madam Gifty Agyeiwaa Badu, Tema Metro NCCE Director, welcoming participants Elections are very important in choosing political representatives in a democracy, adding that the people of Ghana have the power to rule themselves in line with Article 1(1) of the 1992 Constitution, which puts the sovereignty of the country into them.
Madam Badu added that the NCCE, which was established by the Constitution and an Act of Parliament, instituted the parliamentary candidates’ dialogue as one of its flagship programmes which creates a platform for the candidates in the constituency seeking to be voted for to represent their constituents in Parliament to interact with the electorates.
She added that the candidates were to respond to six key issues from the findings of the research conducted by the Research Department of the NCCE, dubbed “Matter of Concern to the Ghanaian Voter.”
Reverend Francis Tetteh Guggisberg, the Tema Metro IPDC Chairman, said the committee was poised to deliver on its mandate of promoting peace and ensuring a violence-free election in the Tema Metropolis.
Reverend Gussisberg pleaded with both the parliamentary and presidential candidates to take the concerns raised by the citizens in the NCCE research to formulate policies to address them.
He also appealed to people to desist from defacing the posters of their opponents, stressing that it has the potential of inflaming passions.
GNA