NCCE INTENSIFIES EDUCATION ON DISTRICT POLLS (PAGE 14, JULY 0, 2010)

THE National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has intensified its efforts at educating the people on the forthcoming district assembly elections to whip up interest and encourage eligible voters to participate effectively.
At a forum of opinion leaders, chiefs, educationists and eligible voters at Tema Manhean, the Tema Metropolitan Director of the NCCE, Mr Ebenezer Tetteh-Wayo, expressed concern over the low turnout of voters during district level elections.
He said the poor turnout was a national phenomenon, adding that in 2002, the overall turnout was 33.3 per cent of the voting population, while in 2006, it was about 44 per cent.
That, Mr Tetteh Wayo said, was of concern to the NCCE, which is responsible for education.
He urged the people to embrace the district assembly concept, which is enshrined in Chapter 20 (Article 256) of the Constitution and the Local Government Act 462, for participatory democracy in the development of the nation.
He called on the people to be interested in those they chose to lead them in the assembly, saying they must be vigilant and actively involved in the effective use of assembly funds for proper accountability.
He noted that some citizens had lost confidence in their assembly members for non-performance, hence their decision to abstain from voting.
He said assembly members were there to represent the people and convey the concerns of the people to the assembly for resolution.
Mr Tetteh-Wayo said assembly members were to liaise with the people in the communities, hold meetings and discuss the people’s needs, as well as inform the people on how the assembly operated.
He said effective participation in governance was the surest way to attain the objectives of democracy and appealed to the citizenry to attach importance to the district level elections, just as they did to presidential and parliamentary elections, and come out in their numbers to elect their community leaders.
He advised the youth to refrain from violence and electoral malpractice that would mar elections and prevent people from exercising their franchise.
Mr Tetteh–Wayo urged aspiring candidates to endeavour to satisfy all the requirements of the electioneering processes before they posted their posters for the elections.
During the open forum, participants were surprised to hear that assembly members were not paid salaries, nor were they given money to undertake development projects.
They appreciated the education by the NCCE and appealed to the government to resource the organisation to enable it to undertake more programmes.
An aspiring assembly member was not happy that some candidates were being sponsored by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly in the forthcoming district level elections and called on the NCCE to ensure that everything was fair to whip up the interest of as many people as possible to take part.