40-member IPDC for Okaikoi South Constituency inaugurated
A 40-member Inter Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) was on Friday inaugurated by the Accra Metropolitan Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in the Okaikoi South Constituency.
The committee, including seven-executive members is chaired by the Tantra Hill Dzasitse, Nii Shamo Bio Gbalor I, to serve as a unifying body to promote peace, and resolve conflicts before, during and after the elections to enhance political, economic and social stability in the constituency.
Members of the IPDC were drawn from political parties, security agencies, traditional authorities, religious groups, district assemblies, the Electoral Commission (EC), persons with disabilities, media, civil society and community leaders.
It will undertake various activities, including regular monitoring, complaint receipt, organise fora and also convene emergency meetings to address emerging issues and engage the community through sporting events and street processions once a month.
At the inauguration ceremony in Accra on the theme, ‘Together we can build Ghana, so get involved,’ the Accra Metro Director, NCCE, Stanley A. Quaynor, said the IPDC was to act as a peace council to enforce the electoral rules and regulations, to combat election-related issues such as disinformation, misinformation, vote buying and political or religious intolerance.
He said the NCCE was mandated to among others educate the citizens to defend the 1992 constitution from all forms of abuse and violence and for the formation of the IPDC in all 275 constituencies to ensure a peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections.
He said through the formation of the IPDC, its work and other governance initiatives, Ghana had been able to sustain its democracy for the past 32 years, however, irrespective of the achievement, Ghana still struggle to organise a violence free presidential and parliamentary elections.
“Available records indicate that during the 2020 general elections, eight people lost their lives in the electioneering process. Out of this number of people who died, two were recorded in the Greater Accra Metropolis, specifically, the Odododiodoo Constituency under the Ashiedu Keteke Sub Metro.
Though the Okaikoi South Constituency has not recorded any such fatalities, information gathered revealed that nine communities in the constituency have been identified as electoral violence prone areas,” he added.
The District Electoral Director, of the EC, Mr David Chinery, who swore in the committee members charged them to uphold the oath of secrecy and work hard to ensure that the December general election was violence free, especially in the Okaikoi South Constituency.
The Chairman of the IPDC, Nii Gbalor I, on behalf of the committee members expressed gratitude to the NCCE and other stakeholders for the confidence reposed in them and assured to lead the peace-building awareness creation within the constituency.
All the other stakeholders present including the two major political parties, NPP and NDC unanimously resolved to proactively put the national interest above personal grievances, to promote peace before, during and after the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR
