FORUM TO SENSITISE PUBLIC TO POLLS (PAGE 13, DEC 7, 2010)

A day’s regional forum to help sensitise the public to the forthcoming District Assembly Elections has been held in Tamale.
It was on the theme: “Harnessing the resources of the Electoral Commission (EC), National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and Information Services Department (ISD) for improved citizen participation in the 2010 district level elections.”
The EC, in collaboration with KAB Consult, organised it. District Officers of the EC, the NCCE and ISD in the northern region attended the forum.
The officers discussed, among other issues, the mode of collaboration and strategies for disseminating information.
Addressing the participants, the Deputy Commissioner of the EC in charge of Finance and Administration, Mr David Adeenze-Kangah, said the need to get persons with disabilities involved in the elections and make sure that political parties were not allowed to turn the district assembly elections into partisan politics was a major challenge to the EC.
“We must not encounter the kind of rancour that characterises general elections and that is why we are keeping political parties out of it” Mr Adeenze-Kangah pointed out.
According to him, the mounting of platforms to expose the candidates to the electorate was equally critical.
He intimated that there would be only one unit committee member in every electoral area.
The deputy commissioner said the EC started making reforms in the district level elections to ensure that the district assembly structures were more attractive to prospective candidates.
He noted that the attendance at the forum was encouraging, which was a clear manifestation of the commitment of the EC, NCCE and ISD towards a successful election.
The Regional Director of the EC, Mr Sylvester Kanyi, said in spite of concerns being raised about the delays in holding the elections, his outfit would do all it could to make the election successful to justify the delays and to inform people that a lot of preparation were made to make it succeed.
He observed that the forum was aimed at enlightening the participants on the dynamics of the elections and equip them with the requisite skills to effectively engage in information dissemination.
An EC member, Hajia Sa-adatu Maida, stressed the need for more women representation in the assemblies so that they could contribute their quota to the decision making process.