Public Agenda (Accra)
5 September 2008
The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has urged the various political parties in the country to adhere strictly to the political parties' code of conduct in the run up to the December elections.
The call is contained in a report conducted by CODEO "on the pre-election environment for August 2008" which indicates that political party campaigning across the country has not been as smooth and violence free as expected.
The report for August 2008 is the fifth in the series since the exercise started in March 2008 and captures reports from 60 field observers deployed across the country.
Some of the findings are that campaigns by particularly the NDC and the NPP have intensified for the month of August and that messages have generally been issue based.
In addition, the report commended the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) for organizing political parties' forums within the period to educate political parties' representatives on the political parties' code of conduct and to ensure violence-free election.
"These forums took place in the Bawku municipality in the Upper East Region and Lawra and Nandom districts in the Upper West Region. CODEO commends the NCCE for taking pragmatic steps to build mutual trust among political parties through its forums in the Upper East and West Regions and urges it to intensify its civic education endeavors in other regions."
However, although the campaigns were generally peaceful, isolated cases of violence in some constituencies' including inter and intra parties wrangling are cause for concern.
For example, the report noted, at Afransi in the Gomoa East constituency in the Central Region, the police had a tough time controlling the crowd and rescuing the incumbent NPP MP who had been attacked by a group of angry youth during his campaign tour.
The youth were apparently protesting against the poor performance of the MP. They brought his campaign tour to an abrupt end by defacing and tearing up his posters. The youth's action significantly raised tension in the community.
Political corruption is also an anomaly the field observers witnessed. "The August field observers' reports allege that NPP party executives gave undisclosed sums of money to electorates. NPP party executives were observed giving T-shirts and money to electorates ahead of the party's rally in Brakwa in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa constituency (Central region). FOs also reported the misuse and abuse of public office for partisan gain. The Municipal Chief Executive of the Offinso South Municipal Assembly who was on a familiarization tour of the district is reported to have used the occasion to also campaign for the NPP presidential and parliamentary aspirants. The Chief Executive was heard canvassing the electorate to vote for the incumbent to ensure the continuation of the NPP government's programs and projects."
In view of the above hitches, CODEO has put forth a number of recommendations including the need for political parties and their agents to strictly adhere to the provisions of the political parties code regarding campaigning, especially the provision on posting of posters and the scheduling of campaigns.
Furthermore, public officials should refrain from the use of state platforms and other public resources for partisan campaigning.
It also calls for the strengthening of security at political party campaign events and that the other political parties take a cue from the CPP by making their manifestoes accessible to persons with visual impairment.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Public Agenda. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
