Presidential candidates to meet in Kumasi

The Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), in collaboration with National Peace Council (NPC) and Asanteman Council on Friday, declared its intention to convene a joint high-level meeting with Presidential Candidates of Election 2012 on November 27.

The meeting to take place at the Great Hall, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi is aimed at getting the presidential candidates to publicly take a collective stand against “electoral violence, impunity and injustice”, which is a recurring problem of elections in Ghana.

Participants to the meeting includes Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Kwaku Asante, Chairman of the NPC, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, Chief Justice, former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor, Professor John Nabila, President of the National House of Chiefs, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, and Inspector General of Police Paul Tawiah Quaye.

Also invited are leaders and representatives of political parties and their youth wings, representatives of civil society, business and trade associations, security agencies, relevant organs of state, members of the Diplomatic Corps and media organisations.

In a statement issued in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, IDEG Executive Director said review of the many commendable interventions so far has pointed to the need for a high level meeting with the Candidates.

He said the historic meeting in Kumasi would provide a public space within which the Presidential Candidates as political leaders would openly and collectively take a stand against all acts of electoral violence, impunity and injustice during and after the December 2012 elections.

Dr Akwetey said a public manifestation of a unified stand by the political leaders against a serious threat to peaceful elections had been lacking.

Source: GNA