The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has advised parliamentary candidates contesting the December 7 general election to campaign based on issues that would promote peace before, during and after the polls and not create hatred, discrimination and disharmony. 

The commission said the campaigns of candidates should be focused on the key issues identified in the NCCE’s Matters of Concern (MoC) to the Ghanaian Voter Report.

The first six priority issues to the voter as captured in the MoC report are education, employment, health, roads and infrastructure, economy and agriculture.

Parliamentary dialogue

The Assistant Director in charge of Programme at the NCCE Head Office, Rebecca Colecraft, said this at the parliamentary candidates dialogue organised by the Kpone Metropolitan Directorate of NCCE at the Kpone Methodist Church last Wednesday.

It was to provide a platform for candidates to share their vision and policies with constituents and engage on national concerns.

Ms Colecraft said the parliamentary candidates’ dialogue was a commendable initiative fostering issue-based discourse promoting peaceful elections and enhancing civic awareness, adding ‘’commitment to peace and issue-based campaign must be a priority’’.

“Democracy is not just about winning elections but is about advancing the people’s interest, maintaining peace and promoting national cohesion. I urge you to uphold decorous and issue-based campaigns”, she advised.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Kpone Katamanso Metropolitan Director of NCCE, Seth Sottie, stressed the need for the voters to avoid selling their votes to the candidates and in the same way the candidates should avoid buying votes.

He explained that if the voters sold their votes, it meant they sold their destinies for the next four years, adding that “you can even not complain when the person who bought your votes is not performing and so let’s vote for people who can champion the cause of the constituency so that the needed development will come to Kpone Katamanso’’.

The four parliamentary candidates are the incumbent Member of Parliament for Kpone, Joseph Akuetteh Tettey of the National Democratic Congress (NDC); William Ofosu Asante of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sampson Kofi Agbane of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), and Edward Nii Annang of the New Force. The incumbent MP, Mr Tettey was, however, conspicuously absent as well as Mr Annang.

The NPP candidate, Mr Asante, said the problem of the constituency had to do with the representation of the people in Parliament — for the past 32 years the NDC MP had represented the people.

“We have voted for people but they failed to represent us and they have failed to deliver the kind of leadership that we desire,” he said.

Mr Asante, therefore, pleaded with the voters to try the NPP this time round and see the differences that would come.

The PPP candidate, Mr Agbane, for his part, said he had it in mind to resource fisherfolk with fishing gears as his contribution to the people of Kpone since Kpone was a big fishing community.      

During question time, most of the participants registered their displeasure at the incumbent MP’s absence at such an important programme where he was to account for his stewardship for the past four years.