Bismark Bebli
12 September 2008
The National Enforcement Body (NEB) of the political parties code of conduct, has expressed grave concern about the alarming rate that some political parties carry offensive weapons to rallies and public gatherings, and their non co-operation with the Police. They have also expressed concern about the use of inflammatory and inciting language in the political terrain. At the press briefing in Accra yesterday, the National Chairman of the NEB, Rev. Fred Deegbe, said the use of inflammatory language, defacing of posters and paraphernalia and misunderstandings arising from dates and venues to hold political rallies were all blatant breaches of the code. According to him, NEB has considered as alarming the use of the media, especially the electronic ones, as grounds for political battles, saying, "there is no attempt to restrain the politicians, social commentators and serial callers from mudslinging and fiery speeches. During phone call-ins in particular, callers have free restriction to spew out defamatory language. In a move to curb any unfortunate conflict, which might arise out of the upcoming general elections, Rev. Fred Degbee and his team tasked all the political parties to desist from using ethnicity to score political points and creating the platform for the media to sensationalize such pronouncements. He asserted that the body was worried about the way and the manner politicians are conducting their campaigns as if the laws governing their activities did not exist. "All political parties must be reminded that an impending election does not mean that all laws governing the state no longer exist," On behalf of the members of the NEB, which comprises of the representatives of the NPP, NDC, The Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Convention People's Party (CPP), Electoral Commission, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Institute of Economic Affairs, People's National Convention (PNC) and others, Rev. Degbee urged the National Media Commission to proactively call to order the erring media houses to sanitize the system To him, the body was alarmed at the various breaches of code of conduct by the competing parties and prevailed upon the media, especially the electronic media, to check-mate and regulate the utterances of the politicians when they appear on their shows. Hon. Kofi Osei Ameyaw, a representative of the NPP, Mr. Ekow Duncan, a representative of the CPP and Mr. John Ameka, a representative of the DFP, stressed on the need to protect the peace that the nation is currently enjoying. They appealed to the media to be circumspect in reporting inflammatory language from the politicians.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Ghanaian Chronicle. 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.
