Gag abusive politicians – Delle tasks media
An aspiring chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) on Wednesday dared the media to gag abusive politicians while challenging executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) to restrain their members.
Professor Edmund N. Delle described the increasing abusive politicking as “signs of desperation to retain or win power at all cost by the two dominant parties” and asked the media to muster the courage to apply the whip.
“The media, as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, has a constitutional and moral obligation to instil sanity into the Ghanaian political environment by blacklisting all politicians who use intemperate language from their platform,” he said.
“You are equally culpable if you continue to provide a platform for such personalities to insult the integrity and sensibility of Ghanaians,” Prof. Delle, who is also a former Chairman of the CPP, said in an interview with journalists in Accra.
He tasked the leadership of the NDC and NPP to keep faith with the Political Parties Code they themselves prepared and signed and be constantly guided by its tenets.
The code states in part that: “No political party, members and agents or candidates shall resort to the use of abusive or inflammatory language or incitement to hatred on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion, creed, sect or any other criteria.”
It further mandates political parties to actively discourage members from engaging in all forms of malpractices and confrontation.
Prof. Delle, therefore, reminded political party leaders, especially the chairmen, of their obligation to ensure a sane political environment at all times.
He also urged the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to immediately table a motion at the Political Parties Chairmen’s Caucus forum to discuss and come out with resolutions on how to curb the increasing abusive language in Ghanaian politics.
The Chairmen’s Caucus is a body that comprises the National Chairmen of the four political parties with representation in Parliament, which meets to speak on national issues and serves as a pro-active avenue for conflict resolution.
Prof. Delle also urged IEA to consider the resumption of the joint political party broadcasts on peace, initiation of the processes leading to the formulation of a new Code of Conduct for Elections 2012 and the holding of Joint Political Parties Symposia.
He said such a move would neutralise the looming danger as activities for Elections 2012 had kicked off unusually early. “We need to start setting the ground rules immediately.”
Prof. Delle also appealed to religious and traditional leaders, civil society activists and the electorate not to sit on the fence by just expressing concern about the verbal war between the NDC and the NPP.
“It’s time to name and shame parties and personalities whose conduct is an affront to our democratic tenets and traditional values,” he said.
Source: GNA