The NCCE in the Ashanti Region has stepped up public engagement to whip up interest in the impending District Level Elections (DLE) scheduled for December 19.
The exercise, which is being conducted in various districts across the region, is to encourage the people to attach importance to the DLE just as they do during presidential and parliamentary elections.
Local elections since the Fourth Republic have been characterised by low participation despite being the foundation of the country’s governance structure.
Less than 50 percent of registered voters on the electoral roll often show up on Election Day to cast the ballots, a development that required concerted efforts from stakeholders’ addresses.
It is for this reason that the NCCE is exercising its constitutional mandate to change the narrative as the 2023 DLE approaches.
The Commission has been targeting identifiable groups such as churches, mosques, artisans, and senior high school students in its drive to encourage citizens to exercise civic responsibilities in the upcoming election.
One of such engagement has been held at the St. Louis Girls Senior High School and the Susuanso Baptist Church by the Oforikrom Municipal Directorate of the Commission.
Led by Vera Sakyiba Ofei, the Municipal Director of NCCE, eligible voters among the students were entreated to exercise their rights to elect their representatives to lobby for the development of their localities.
The team underscored the importance of electing Assembly and Unit Committee members in the decentralisation process.
The students, especially first-time voters, were also taken through the voting process as well as practices that violate the electoral process.
They should also resist any form of enticement meant to influence their votes but vote for competence and with the interest of the larger community as their motivation.
In the Adansi South Municipality, the Directorate took the message of participation to the congregation of the central mosque and urged them to show keen interest in who becomes their representatives in the Municipal Assembly.
Mr. Charles Gyimah, the Municipal NCCE Director, said development could only come to their electoral areas when they elected a competent person to push for that agenda on their behalf.
He therefore urged them to go out in their numbers to exercise their franchise as responsible citizens interested in the development of their communities.
Source: GNA
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