[ 2014-09-16 ]

Ghana Bar Association calls for end to long political campaigns
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has questioned the
value of long political campaign prior to
presidential and parliamentary elections in the
country.

GBA President Nene Amegatcher said the long
periods of political campaigns have not helped
Ghana's development, and has, therefore, called
for a change.

“We must find a means to curtail political
campaigns possibly to the last three months before
elections” the GBA President said at the
Association's annual meeting in Cape Coast
Monday.

Nene Amegatcher said before such a proposal is
implemented, there is the need in the interim to
avoid a repetition of the events that led to the
challenge of the 2012 election results by
opposition New Patriotic Party Supreme Court.

Nene Amegatcher said central to avoiding an
election petition at the Supreme Court will be
dependent on the priority the Electoral Commission
places on the electoral reforms, from various
quarters, including think tanks, and religious
groups.

He said the EC must rely less on part-time polling
officials to guarantee the integrity of
elections.

Nene Amegatcher also spoke against politicisation
of state institutions.

He noted that generally, "politics has been made
so attractive in this country that the technocrats
seeing the benefits derived by their political
superiors have been struggling to be like
them”.

Public Relations Officer, Tony Forson, also said
on Newsnite on Joy FM Monday, the GBA's call for
an end to lengthy political campaigns must be
considered critically.

He said although a government in power may be
doing its best to ensure good governance, its
efforts may be deflected from its mandate when it
feels that the opposition is campaigning.

He said that deflection does not augur well for
good governance.

He said elsewhere in the United Kingdom and the
United States of America, long election campaigns
are non-existent.

Peter Mac Manu, a representative of NPP on an
agenda to reform elections in Ghana said the GBA's
proposals were good.

“It's the right thing to do”, he noted.
He, however, advised that when the proposals are
legislated, governments in power must not flout
them.

Source - MyjoyOnline

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