CHANGE VOTING TIME - NCCE Tells EC

By Stephen Kwabena Effah
Saturday, 12 January 2008

WITH just 11 months to the country’s general elections, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has suggested to the Electoral Commission to review the voting period to avoid late counting and collating of ballots and any malpractice.

It said the current voting period, which is between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. should be shifted to 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. to make room for counting of ballots and collating of results in day light.

"It is our belief that the incidence of threats to peace due to problems created in the counting and collating of election results in the night may be prevented," the commission said at a news briefing in Accra yesterday.

The briefing was aimed at reminding stakeholders of their respective roles in ensuring free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections in December.

Mrs. Augustina A.Akumanyi, Deputy Chairman of the NCCE in charge of programmes, said the EC must ensure that all temporary staff engaged to assist with poll duties are of "unquestionable character".

She said: "They must be well versed in the rules and regulations governing the elections".
Another concern in the elections is timely declaration of election results by the EC, Mrs Akumanyi said and added: "Disagreements over election results in African countries pose a serious challenge to political stability and constitutional development on the continent, with the latest being the Kenyan experience".

Mrs. Akumanyi said such socio-political instability in some instances has led to armed conflicts.It is important for Ghana to learn from such examples and ensure that the upcoming general election is free, fair, transparent and peaceful, she said.

She advised parliamentary candidates of the various political parties to use inspiring language and avoid inflammatory utterances in their campaigns.

Mrs Akumanyi also stressed the need for the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), to assist the EC with ideas that go beyond partisan interests of political parties and proposed that the IPAC concept should be replicated in all the regions and districts to ensure that disagreements over the elections are nipped in the bud early.

She also spoke about the roles of the security agencies and the religious bodies in the success of the elections saying that the credibility of the elections would depend largely on the conduct of the security agencies before, during and after polling.

Religious bodies she said should also use their platforms to promote peace and encourage their congregations to exercise their franchise.