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31.05.2016 Politics

Politicians tasked to prioritise civic responsibilities in campaign

31.05.2016 LISTEN
By GNA

By Justina Paaga, GNA
Cape Coast May 30, GNA - The Central Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Ofori Boateng, has urged political parties to include civic education in their campaign messages, especially on how to properly cast a ballot.

He said politicians should be mindful that drawing crowds to campaigns would be useless if the end the supporters would void their votes with inaccurate balloting.

Mr Boateng speaking at the launch and premiering of a movie produced in collaboration with Star Ghana, on Coastal Television, a community-based Television station in Cape Coast.

The 20-minute movie dubbed: 'A Vote For Me', directed by Mr Gerald Addai, is to educate the public on the roles and responsibilities of a Member of Parliament (MP).

It is also targeted at educating the public on how to properly handle ballot papers to help reduce the number of rejected and spoilt ballots during the polls.

The movie also portrays how politicians can do effective campaigns devoid of violence and disturbances

Mr Boateng urged political leaders to develop an interest in civic education, since it was a shared responsibility between the NCCE and all the other stakeholders in nation building.

The Regional Director said despite the numerous elections held in the country, coupled with the various educational programmes, the Electoral Commission still recorded large numbers of rejected ballot during elections and described the situation, 'as unacceptable'.

He commended the Management of Coastal Television for coming up with such a beautiful movie, which would help educate the public on how to cast their votes, campaign without violence and disturbances and stop making unnecessary demands from their MP since they were law makers and not development agents.

Mrs Barbara Asher Ayisi, the New Patriotic Party (NPP)'s Parliamentary Candidate for Cape Coast North Constituency, urged the stakeholders in the general election, such as political party leaders, the Police, Electoral Commission, NCCE and the media to play their roles effectively to ensure peaceful elections, in November.

She also called on politicians to do their campaigns devoid of insults and name calling and focus on development issues and programmes that would enhance the lives of the electorate saying, 'Insults will not bring you development or make you win elections'.

Mr Selete Nyomi, the Founding President of Coastal Television, urged the public to vote on issues but not on personalities.

He urged all citizens to find time to study the manifestos of the various political parties to enable them to make informed decisions.

Mr Nyomi also noted that Ghanaians made too much demands for development projects from MPs instead of going to the appropriate areas such as the district assemblies.

He stressed that MPs were not development agents but rather law makers and a liaison for their constituencies and Parliament.

He said the movie would be showcased in all the constituencies in the Region before the polls in November and urged the public to patronise the movie when it was telecast in their area.

The launch was attended by political party leaders, Journalists, students, market women and a cross section of the public.

Star-Ghana is multi-donor funded initiative, supported by UKAID, DANIDA, and the EU seeks to Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness of the state to citizens.

GNA

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