NCCE cautions Ghanaians against ‘vote buying’ during elections

The Programmes Director of the National Commis­sion for Civic Ed­ucation (NCCE), Dr Imurana Mohammed, has cautioned Gha­naians against ‘vote buying’ during this year’s general elections.

Such an act, according to him, could lead to imprisonment, fines, and disqualification of candidates.

He was speaking at an event organised by the NCCE on Fri­day as part of this year’s constitu­tion week celebration.

It was under the theme “To­gether We can build Ghana, so get involved”.

The event brought together dig­nitaries from the Ghana Prisons Service and representatives from the NCCE to discuss plans by the Commission to ensure a peaceful, free and fair election.

Dr Mohommed cited monetisa­tion and disinformation as some of the threats faced by Gha­na’s democracy, adding that the situation, if not checked, would disrupt the country’s peace.

He blamed the sit¬uation not only on the citizenry, but also politicians, recounting the Ejisu by-election incident where a man allegedly dropped an envelope containing money for the EC officials.

“We’ve come to a point where one of the main factors for win­ning public office is a candidate’s capacity to give money to voters. If we don’t put an end to it, it will be our downfall,” he said.

The Programmes Director further emphasised that accepting money from politicians before casting votes deprived the citi­zenry of proper representation in government.

“Positions should be filled by individuals based on their quali­fications, not by those who offer the most money,” he said.

The Deputy Director General of Administration of the Ghana Prisons Service, Mrs Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, stated that the Prisons Service had demonstrated unwavering dedication to contrib­uting to the promotion of peace in the country.

She encouraged the media to familiarise themselves with the provisions of the constitution and to inform the public about their rights and duties as outlined in it.

“Everyone must read the constitution. When you read the constitution, no one can bully you,” she said.

The Deputy Director of Com­munications of the NCCE, Mrs Rita Amparbin, also appealed to the media to refrain from using their platforms to spread mis-in­formation, hate speech, personal attacks, and divisive utterances.

 BY AGNES OWUSU