Today's review begins with the Daily Graphic's story on 88 polling stations under trees in the Bolga Municipality. The Bolgatanga Municipal Director of the National Electoral Commission (EC) Mr. Oscar Apemah, has disclosed that 88 out of the 133 polling stations in the municipality are located under trees. He said even though there were schools near to these polling stations that could have been used, disagreements between communities have led to these places being compromised and thus cannot be used as polling stations.
With just a day to the biometric registration, EC affirms commitment to physically challenged, the Daily Graphic reports. The Electoral Commission (EC) has affirmed its commitment to make provision for the physically challenged to participate in the biometric voters registration. The Municipal Electoral Officer of LEKMA, Mr. Emmanuel Addai, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in an interview said officers from the EC would register on behalf of any physically challenged individual who would not be in the position to register.
The electoral commission according to the New Statesman assures public of credible voters' register. Kwadwo Sarfo Kantanka, Deputy Electoral Commissioner in charge of operations, has assured the general public of the commission's preparedness to produce credible voter register for the December general elections. He therefore appealed to all political parties and stakeholders to collaborate with the Electoral Commission to make the upcoming biometric registration exercise incident free.
We end the news about biometric registration with the story "EC schools media on Biometric registration" by The Chronicle that barely a few days to go for the commencement of the biometric voters Registration exercise , the Ashanti Regional office of Electoral Commission (EC) has educated the media on the processes involved to help educate the electoral and take them through the demonstration process. According to Mr. Isaac Owusu, Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of the commission, many people especially in the rural areas , like market women and the uneducated, do not know much about the biometric registration and are therefore, unlikely to register during the exercise.
The Daily Graphic reports that The National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches (NACC) has launched the Peace Run Campaign, an initiative geared towards maintaining peace before, during and after the elections. In the headline "NACC launches Peace Run campaign", the paper adds that NACC is an association of pastors and ministers from different churches with a common vision of winning souls for the kingdom of God and ensuring the well-being of the society as a whole.
Similarly, the Ghanaian Times says that Religious leaders must encourage members to register. CHURCH leaders must educate their members who are eligible for voting to register during the forth-coming biometric registration exercise.'' It is only when you are registered that you can join others to vote during the 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections,'' Apostle Dr. Stephen K. Amoani, Chairman of the Christ Apostolic Church International has said.
More about religious bodies' commitment to elections as The Eastern Regional Deputy Minister , Mr. Ebenezer Terlarbi, has called on religious leaders to add their voices to the call on politicians to desist from politics of insults and the use of inflammatory utterances. According to him, the ''unsavory behavior '' had inundated the airwaves and had heightened the already existing political tension in the country, which would not augur well for peace unity and stability. This is what the Ghanaian Times captures in the headline Let's pray for peaceful elections.
From the religious bodies, we look at elections observation where the Crusading Guide states that CODEO to deploy 4,000 observers during elections . The Coalition of Domestic (CODEO) says it will train and deploy 4,000 observers during this year's general election. Speaking at the official launch of CODEO's Election 2012 project at the GNAT Hall in Accra,Prof Justice V.C.R.A.C Crabbe, co-Chair of CODEO, said the coalition will undertake two major activities on Election Day which are election Day Observation and Parallel Vote Tabulation.
Away from election observation, we look into the Public Agenda which reports that Police Confer with Political parties on peaceful elections. In their quest to beef up security to ensure peace before ,during and after the election 2012 in the region, the Western Regional Police Command has held a sensitization programme with the various political parties in the region. Deputy Commissioner of Police(DCOP).Mr Ransford Moses Ninson, who led the discussions, charged the parties not to do anything that would disturb the prevailing peace, a characteristic for which the Region is reputed. He appealed to them to campaign on issues and eschew insults and character assassination.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that Presidential Transition Act, a hallmark of cross-party efforts. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on Tuesday described the Presidential Transition Act as a hallmark of cross-party effort, which establishes strong evidence of political leadership's capability to rise above partisanship to deepen democratic governance. The IEA, therefore commended Parliament for the non-partisan approach in passing the bill, and said ''the President and his cabinet also deserve credit for fulfilling a promise made in 2009 to introduce a Transition Bill.''
Also making the news today is the PPP's education policy. After indicating extensively how the policy would be funded from the national coffers, the party challenged all the other political parties seeking the mandate of Ghanaians to join in the debate on how to implement free and compulsory basic and secondary education. The Daily Graphic adds that the Progressive People's Party (PPP) yesterday laid out its educational policy which seeks to make education from the kindergarten to the senior high school level free and compulsory for every Ghanaian child. The paper covers this in the headline PPP will provide free pre-tertiary education-Nduom.
The Ghanaian Times, under the headline "PPP to abolish BECE, make SHS education free" states that the Progressive People's Party(PPP) will abolish the Basic Education Certificate Examination(BECE) and make Senior High School Education free, compulsory and continuous for all Ghanaian Children, if the party is voted into power in December. It said it would also raise the minimum standard from 'basic meaning Junior High School(JHS) to Senior High level.
More news on the political parties' campaigns reveals that 'NDC will not foment trouble in December election'. Mr. Daniel Adiah Kaku, NDC youth organizer of Bomoakpole, has assured Ghanaians that it is not the intention of NDC youth to foment trouble in the coming elections. He, therefore cautioned the youth in the party to desist from acts likely to undermine the electoral process as the nation was all out to consolidate her nascent democracy which had become yet another litmus test in the eye of the international community, the Ghanaian Times says.
The opposition New Patriotic Party, according to the New Statesman, says it has uncovered a grand scheme by the Mills-Mahama led National Democratic Congress government to rig the upcoming December elections with the connivance of officials of the National Health Insurance Authority, and the National Identification Authority. The paper adopts the headline, NDC rigging plot in motion. According to the main opposition party, managers of the National Health Insurance Scheme across the country were summoned over the weekend to emergency meetings in the regions across the country to set up special registration centres in their scheme areas to register ''certain people '' under the operation'' special Registration Exercise''.
Again on the opposition NPP, The Germany Branch of the New Patriotic Party has condemned in the strongest terms ''the unprovoked attacks'' on NPP supporters by thugs of the ruling NDC in the Odododiodio constituency in Accra's Tuesday. According to the Ghanaian Times story with headline "NPP-Germany takes Police to task over NDC attacks on members at Odododiodio", the group has consequently charged the Police Service to live up their responsibilities by ensuring that the perpetrators of Tuesday's attack are brought to justice.
Ras Mubarak urges massive registration is how the Daily Graphic reports that the National Democratic congress (NDC) Parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma North, Ras Mubarak, has called on all eligible Ghanaians, particularly those in the zongo communities register massively during the Biometric Voters Registration slated for March 24 to May 5,2012. According to him, registration was the first step at ensuring that the NDC was retained in power after December 2012,saying the party had done enough to earn another four year term. This is how we end the day's review.
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