NCCE asks Ghanaians to participate in district-level elections
The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has urged Ghanaians to participate massively in the District Assembly and Unit Committee elections, which are slated for September 1, this year.
Advertisement
According to the Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs of NCCE, Ms Joyce Afutu, the district-level elections offered Ghanaians the platform to choose qualified, capable and non-partisan individuals who could champion growth in their respective localities.
“Ghanaians should not exclude themselves because the individuals who get elected will lead the campaign for a better development in their respective areas,” she said in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra.
Background
The District Assembly elections, which were slated for March 3, 2015 were called off by the Supreme Court after an aspiring assembly member, Mr Benjamin Mensah, dragged the Electoral Commission (EC) to court.
He said he was denied the opportunity despite meeting all conditions to contest as the EC closed nominations before the maturity of the Constitutional Instrument (CI) 85.
Mr Justice William Atuguba, who led the panel of judges on the case, ruled in favour of the fisherman and declared the elections “unconstitutional”.
The EC later sent to Parliament a new legislation to enable it to reorganise the District Assembly elections.
A new date was, however, announced for the elections.
Awareness creation
Ms Afutu said prior to the cancellation of the elections, NCCE had embarked on numerous sensitisation campaigns to inform Ghanaians about the essence of the District-Level Elections.
Other Trending Stories
“Even before the new election day was announced, the NCCE made sure it continued its awareness campaign to ensure that every Ghanaian realised the benefits of participating in the district elections,” she said.
So far, Ms Afutu said, NCCE had undertaken many initiatives to get every Ghanaian involved, stressing that apart from using both the electronic and print media, “NCCE also goes to popular places, including churches, mosques and market areas to educate people.”
She said NCCE, despite its logistical constraints, was doing more to influence public participation in the upcoming assembly elections.
Ms Afutu, however, expressed optimism of high voter turnout since most Ghanaians had now realised the significance of participating in district-level elections.