CHRAJ, CSO TO MONITOR CORRUPT POLITICAL PRACTICES (PAGE 16)

THE Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), in collaboration with civil society organisations (CSOs), has put in place mechanisms to monitor corrupt practices by political parties in the run-up to the December 7 general election.
That, according to the Deputy Commissioner of CHRAJ, Mr Richard Quayson, was to ensure that there was much integrity among those who aspired to be in public office and that any presidential aspirant who would win the elections would represent the will of the people.
Mr Quayson, who was speaking to the Daily Graphic in Wa, said the move by CHRAJ and the CSOs was to discourage the alleged canker of vote buying by political parties.
He gave the assurance that results from the monitoring exercise would be published on a later date to draw the attention of people to the indirect effects of vote buying on the electorate and the entire country.
He said if acts of corruption during political party campaigns were checked, within the next 12 years the face of elections in the country would improve, with politicians talking more about reality during their campaigns, not fanciful things.
“Once we have all accepted multi-party democracy, the parties must play it fair. We must know that if parties use dishonest means to get the votes, the same dishonest culture will be exhibited by the politicians when they are in office,” the deputy commissioner stressed, adding, “Operators of the political system that should give us leaders must not corrupt it.”
Mr Quayson also described as very weak the argument that “we will take the items but we will not vote for them”, stressing that very good candidates could lose an election because they did not provide gifts or distribute items to the electorate.