General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, has urged Ghanaians to shift their attention from fear of eruption of violence during elections to the fear of electing non-performing people to power.
Dr Opuni-Frimpong said this during the launch of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) elections project dubbed ‘Ghana Wins Election 2016’, held at the Forest Hotel, Dodowa in the Shai-Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region last Thursday.
The brief event was attended by a number of organised groups, including representatives of political parties, traditional authorities, the Electoral Commission, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and Star Ghana.
Dr Opuni-Frimpong disclosed that “we have done so much public education and investments in ensuring peaceful electoral process over the years. It is now time to invest similar or more energy and resources in addressing the emerging fear of whether the right candidates will be elected or not.”
Continuing, he added, “The future and growth of our nation is hinged on our decision on November 7, 2016. The people we will vote for will determine whether our country will make tangible progress or retrogresses. Most of our people are seeking to have a Ghana where their livelihoods can be secured and enhanced.”
The general secretary further mentioned that this year’s elections “as we focus on enriching the political discourse by addressing the underlining fears as to whether the right candidate will be elected or not, we must proactively use our media platforms to promote issue based elections.”
He further pointed out that the elections must be a contest of ideas and not exchange of insults and display of physical power.
“For this to happen, the mass media which has an enormous role to play by educating the public must also demand issue-based campaigns and subsequently glean towards electing candidates who have sound and realistic developmental agenda for Ghana,” Dr Opuni-Frimpong indicated.
Acting Director General of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Francisca Ashietey-Odunton, disclosed that the state broadcaster had received US$75, 000 worth of support from Star Ghana for its 2016 elections project.
She disclosed that the support from Star Ghana would go a long way to help the station carry out a number of programmes it had outlined to engage the public before and after the upcoming general elections.
Giving an overview of the project, Ebenezer Ampaabeng, ‘Ghana Wins Election 2016’ project manager, described the project as a good mix of programmes tailored to inform and educate Ghanaians on the rights and responsibilities in an election.
He added that the state broadcaster would collaborate with key partners to come out with the best, adding that “the project is so dear to our heart so that we do not get it wrong.”
By Solomon Ofori/Daily Guide Africa
No comments:
Post a Comment