We begin today's newspaper review with news from the Daily Graphic that indicates that the flag bearer of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, has stirred controversy by calling on the Electoral Commission (EC) to abolish the practice of allowing polling agents of political parties to monitor voters registration exercises and voting during national elections. According to him, the use of polling agents enabled the parties to engage in unnecessary aggression and illegal acts that had the tendency to plunge the country into chaos, adding that there was nowhere in the world that agents of political parties were allowed to monitor elections. While the paper adopts the headline Nduom Wants Party Agents Out... NDC, NPP, EC Disagrees, the Ghanaian Times uses the caption Ban political party agents from monitoring polls in reporting this story.
Meanwhile, news from the Daily Guide indicates that Prisoners will be registered. The Director of public Affairs at the Electoral Commission (EC), Christian Owusu Parry has indicated the commission will register inmates at the various prisons across the country. According to him, the commission is just waiting for approval from authorities of the Ghana Prisons Service to begin the registration of inmates to allow them participate in the forthcoming December 7 elections.
Also in the Daily Graphic, the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma North in the Greater Accra Region, Mr. Justice Joe Appiah has commended the Electoral Commission (EC) for its performance in the just ended nationwide biometric voters' registration exercises. He, however, stressed that the EC had a lot to do to ensure a free, fair and violent –free elections in the December 7, polls.
In order to ensure peaceful and violence free elections, Sixteen thousand (16,000) Police officers will be receiving training on how to handle violent situations and crisis during the upcoming elections. The New Crusading Guide under the headline Election 2012: special training for 16,000 policemen, adds that the training will be funded and conducted by the UK Aid from the Department for International Development. The Department in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service will provide a five week training exercise for some police officers nationwide.
Both The New Crusading Guide and the Daily Guide report that Dr. Kwasi Akyem Apea-Kubi, a Minister of State at the Presidency, said results of the December 7 polls would depend on the achievements of the various political parties, and not insults. He said the Birim South District needed political leaders, who were committed to bringing development to the people.
In another news item, a clergyman has advised politicians in the country to stop the politics of insults and name calling, and concentrate on efforts that would help solve the numerous challenges facing the country. The Daily Guide reports that the Chaplain of the Koforidua Diocesan Methodist Guild Ghana, The Very Reverend Kobina Kakraba Obresi, who made the call, condemned actions and utterances of politicians with the tendency of dividing the country and disrupting national development.
The Chronicle also brings to our notice that the peaceful nature of the 2012 general elections has been a major concern of a group of musicians feverishly preparing to embark on a project in the eighteen districts of the Volta Region to compose songs that would help create the needed awareness about the need for all in the region to see peace as cardinal in the development efforts of the region and the nation in general. The paper reports this with the headline Volta musicians to launch musical concert for peace.
Away from that, we are informed by the Daily Guide that the NDC Umbrella War Deepens. The battle over the ownership of the Logo of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) appears to have taken a new twist as another claimant, Professor Kwame Addo, pops up, days after former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings made a public declaration that she owns the "intellectual property" to the red, black white and green umbrella. Prof Addo however fell short of letting Ghanaians, especially those in the NDC, know whether he indeed owned the 'intellectual property' on the party logo as Mrs. Rawlings had laid claim to; having registered it with the Copyright Office in Ghana.
Still from the Daily Guide, Ghanaians have been cautioned 'Don't vote 'skirt and blouse '. The new Patriotic Party flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said that voting 'skirt and blouse' in the December elections would not help the NPP government if he becomes the President of the nation. He has, therefore, advised all party members who are sitting on the fence, especially in Abuakwa North, and have decided to vote for the NPP in the presidential and other parties in the parliamentary, to rescind their decision because the party would have problems in governing the country.
The Daily Graphic informs readers that, 2012 Election in Ofoase -Ayirebi Constituency under threat as the People of the Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency in the Akyemmansa District in the Eastern Region have threatened to boycott the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections if the 23-km Ofoase Ayirebi road is not tarred by the government before the December 7 polls. They have, therefore, urged the government to take urgent steps to get the road tarred since they did not understand why Ofoase was the only district capital in the country in which it had not got its town roads tarred.
A report from the same paper indicates that Unpatriotic acts of youth condemned. The Upper West Regional Director of the National Youth Authority, Mr. Sulemana Mumuni, has condemned violence, indiscipline, arrogance and other unpatriotic acts by some youth in the country. Mr. Mumuni spoke on "The role of the youth in ensuring peaceful and violence free elections in 2012," at a forum organised to sensitize youth groups from the various political parties in the Wa area to promote violence free elections in Wa.
News from the Chronicle reveals that, the Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Mission in Ghana, Maulvi Dr. Wahab Adam, has expressed optimism that despite the violence that characterized the just-ended biometric registration exercise in some constituencies, this year's elections would be peaceful. According to him, recent developments on the political front showed that if much was not done in terms of education and sensitization, the peace currently being enjoyed, could be sacrificed on the altar of politics.
As we end today's review we are told by the Ghanaian Times that Ms. Samia Nkrumah, Leader and Chairman of the Convention People's Party (CPP), on Saturday disclosed the party had embarked upon a new programme to make it more dynamic. Under the headline CPP to become more dynamic, the paper further states that she said this would begin with a decentralized data-bank of its membership and that "by the time we are in our full campaign mood, we would have up-graded our administrative machinery and overall strategy to turn the party into one that would change the policy direction of the country.
This daily news review is compiled by African Elections Project (AEP) Media Monitoring Centre, Accra, Ghana.
Follow us on twitter @Ghanaelections
No comments:
Post a Comment