Forum on inter-party dialogue committee held in Yendi

A forum on Inter-Party Dialogue Committee has been held at Yendi in the Yendi Municipality of Northern Region.   

The forum, which was organized by the National Commission for Civil Education (NCCE), in collaboration with Action Aid International, for members of political parties, women groups, youth associations, community based organizations and members of the Inter-party Dialogue Committee, was aimed at discussing gender equality and  women in political leadership among others.

The Yendi Municipal Chairman of the Yendi Inter-Party Dialogue Committee, Superintendent Mr George Kumah Andrew, reminded Ghanaians that all eyes were on Ghana to see how the country will conduct a successful and peaceful elections like the previous ones.
 Mr Kumah, who is also the Yendi Police Divisional Commander, said the security services would not give chances before, during and after elections for anybody to throw the country into violence.

He advised party agents to ensure that they always filled Challenge Forms when they doubted the eligibility of voters at the polling stations and not to create violence. 

 He said it was important for all political parties to join hands with the security services, Inter-Party Dialogue Committees and the Electoral Commission for the country to have peaceful elections.    

Speaking on the Inter-Party Dialogue Committee, Essence, Structures and Functions, the NCCE Head of Programmes, Alhaji Baba Mohammed Issahaku, said though everyone wished for violence-free elections it was seldom the case.

He said this is largely  due to failure on the part of political parties, Electoral Commission, civil society and government to address critical grievances which could better be addressed through public education.  

Alhaji Baba said inter-party Dialogue Committee is a platform where geo-political conflicts are addressed by the members of the committee who are made up of political parties, religious bodies and other government institutions who have the ability and capacity to manage and resolve conflicts at the constituencies and district levels.

He reminded the media to be cirscumspect in their reportage to avoid conflicts during elections.  
Speaking on Women in Political Leadership,  Alhaji Alhassan Iddrisu Sulemana, Yendi Municipal NCCE Director, called on parents to invest in their girl-child education to enable them to participate in the national decision making.   

He said when women were educated they could participate effectively in political activities.    

During the open forum, participants called on the Electoral Commission to educate the public on voting procedure to reduce the waste of ballot papers during elections.

GNA