The Upper East Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education, P.P Apoabey Baba has called on politicians to play by the code of conduct signed and binding on them ahead of the 2016 general elections.
The political parties code of conduct is a legally unenforceable code of conduct drawn up by civil society organizations together with political parties and the Electoral Commission in 2000. It was later amended and used through to the 2008 election, which was intended as a guide for political parties in their day to day activities generally and specifically during election period.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East show Wednesday, Mr. Apoabey stated that Ghana is bound by a constitution and other relevant instruments noting that as far as the elections are concerned, the electoral commission holds the timetable for the elections.
He advised politicians to exploit official channels of grievance resolution where they will need to show disagreements since it is the best way to empty emotions and work together while reminding the parties of their pledge to abide by their code of conduct.
“Multi party calls for diversity, at the end we all need to agree on which of the developmental agenda we want to pursue to develop our people,” he said.
“Coming out of the 2012 elections and all that we had in the Supreme Court, I think that the whole world is watching us and we need to hold back. Sometimes some politicians come to radio and spew a lot of hate speech which has the tendency to wake people’s emotions and make people feel as if Ghana, all is about elections. I don’t think it is about elections, beyond the elections we are the same people and while every political party goes about its legal activity, we need to be decorous in the things that we do” he added.
Mr. Apoabey lamented the level of indiscipline which is characterizing society saying that if people are patriotic they will know the dos and don’ts but rather many people are becoming materialistic that anything that does not bring money in to their pockets is not worth working for.
He appealed to influential people in the society to caution the youth and political party activists since they are those who can be used by politicians as thugs to engage in acts of violence or disrupt the political activities of other political parties.
He further called on women who are also in politics to use their disposition to preach peace to help water down emotions. While congratulating the media for the principal role they play during political discussions on their platforms, he urged them to control what politicians say on air.
By: Adugbire Cletus | A1RADIOONLINE.com | GHANA
