MAKING 2008 ELECTIONS FREE & FAIR

THE National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) yesterday launched the eighth National Constitution Week in Accra, during which certain steps were outlined to make this year’s elections free and fair.
The Deputy Chairperson of the NCCE, Mrs Akosua Akumanyi, said three institutions and the political parties would meet next week to review the Code of Conduct for political parties to ensure free, fair and transparent presidential and parliamentary elections in December this year.
In retrospect, it is difficult to measure the extent to which the political parties complied with the Code of Conduct in 2000 and 2004. But the fact that those two elections were adjudged to be free and fair indicated that the code somehow impacted positively on the conduct of the polls.
The previous code laid the ground rules for campaigning devoid of violence and deviant behaviour among activists of the political parties. In the past, the parties signed undertakings to impress on their supporters to refrain from using offensive language and outright insults during the electioneering to make the elections violent free.
In the preamble to the code, the political parties affirmed that “peace and public order, freedom of political campaign and compliance with electoral laws and regulations are essential to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections and the ready acceptance of results”.
The parties and all Ghanaians have an obligation to maintain the stability and unity of the country after the December elections by adhering strictly to the rules.
It is precisely because of the responsibility placed on political parties to help in sustaining the democratic culture that the DAILY GRAPHIC welcomes the suggestion by the Chairman of the NCCE, Mr Larry Bimi, that “citizens should not sit on the fence and allow the country to take a nose-dive into violence after elections”.
The world celebrates the successes attained so far on all fronts of national endeavour and it is incumbent on all of us to use Election 2008 to set another enviable example for the rest of the continent to emulate.
Much of the political violence in the past had occurred because of the lack of understanding of the political game by the rank and file of the political parties. Meanwhile, the leadership of the parties demonstrate a high sense of camaraderie at every public function because although they may embrace different political persuasions, they belong to same school year groups, professional associations and other social clubs.
Unfortunately, they mount political platforms and incite their supporters to violence with hate speech as if the contest for the leadership of the country is a struggle between life and death.
The DAILY GRAPHIC advises all political parties seeking the mandate of the people to rule to state their cases very clearly and leave the electorate to make their decisions without intimidation.
For the code to endure and be a lasting legacy, all the political parties must make it a point to educate their rank and file on the need to exercise decorum during the electioneering.
If we are able to establish clear values in the contest for leadership, then we can produce that unique spark of respect for unity in diversity and thus help to entrench democracy with all its principles.