PARTIES MUST ENGAGE CREDIBLE POLLING AGENTS (PAGE 16)

THE Director in charge of Research and Monitoring of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mr Amadu Sulley, has stressed the need for political parties to engage the services of polling agents who are self-disciplined, loyal and prepared to go all out in fighting the cause of the candidates and parties which they represent.
That, according to him, was because polling agents played a very crucial role in ensuring the successful conduct of elections.
He added that the EC got worried when parties brought in agents who were difficult to train because they were illiterate.
Mr Sulley said these when he addressed a day’s workshop on election reportage for media practitioners in Wa in the Upper West Region.
It was organised by the KAB Governance Consult with support from the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD).
“Polling agents could be professors, doctors and lawyers; it is not just jobs for the boys,” he said.
He urged polling agents of political parties to feel free during the day of elections but advised that they must position themselves in such a way as not to interfere in the electoral process.
On the role of the media in ensuring a successful conduct of the elections, Mr Sulley described journalists as critical stakeholders in the electioneering process and advised them against the use of inflammatory words during and after the elections.
He cited the use of words like “rigging”, “free and fair” and “fraud” which could undermine the process and inflame passions.
He, therefore, advised media practitioners to be very circumspect by using the right terminologies according to the electoral language.
He said irregularities did not mean rigging and added that in situations where journalists were in doubt about certain issues, they must make the offices of the EC their first port of call to cross-check their information before publication.
Mr Sulley also took the opportunity to enlighten members of the media on what is expected of the EC, the electorate, security agencies as well as other stakeholders during and after the elections.
The Electoral officer in charge of the Upper West Region, Mr Ebenezer Aggery-Fynn, who spoke on the integrity of Ghana’s electoral process, said Ghana was able to gain very positive international recognition with respects to the conduct of elections and therefore there was the need to safeguard that recognition during the December general election.
He said the media was in a very sensitive position just as the EC and therefore there was the need to co-operate and work hand in hand in ensuring a successful electoral process.
For his part, The Upper West Regional Director of the EC, Mr Yahaya Mahama, said this years elections was crucial in the history of the country, hence the need for media practitioners to disseminate information which would soothe the pain and calm the nerves of people.
He also emphasised the need for media practitioners to educate the electorate on policies of the presidential candidates to be able to make informed decisions on the day of voting.