Clouds of confusion over referendum – Clergy
The Reverend Lawrence Kwesi Tete the Minister in-charge of Grace Presbyterian Church Community Eleven has noted that there are clouds of confusion about the referendum and government must therefore withhold the election and deal with the chaos.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Tema, Rev. Tete said what government should be focusing on at the moment should be how to deal with the chaos and misunderstandings some section of Ghanaians were portraying regarding the involvement of political parties at the District Assembly Level Elections.
Rev Tete who also doubles as the Director of Ecumenical and Social Relations for the Ga Presbytery said at the moment, there are clouds of confusing in the minds of other well-meaning Ghanaians, which indicated various forms of misunderstanding, for which reason government must do broader consultation.
He said looking at what went on during main elections where there was so much backbiting, insults, the use of vulgar language, vigilantism and even threat of death on some Ghanaians and with such issues on hand Government needed to rather deal with challenges before amending article 55 (3) of the constitution.
He said it was a welcoming news when ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) declared in the Election 2016 Manifesto that it would see to it that MMDCES were elected.
He said the NPP never mentioned the involvement of political parties until the process started when it was realised that it was proposed that Ghanaians should vote on the engagement of political parties in local elections in a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ referendum which has nothing to do with the election of MMDCEs.
Rev. Tete indicated that the election of the MMDCEs was an important section of the proposal government was bringing on board, but the inclusion of political parties in local election was not necessary.
He explained that it was rather unfortunate how politics in Ghana was turning into as whenever there is an issue concerning the nation, some political parties members take entrenched positions.
He said NPP was advocating Yes, while the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) was campaigning for NO adding that it was not what Ghanaians needed, “what Ghanaians need is proper information on both sides so they can make decision for themselves, political parties should not decide for us”.
He added that Ghanaians are aware that some political parties sponsored some candidates to contest at the local level, but since the Constitution frowned on it as unlawful, they cannot do it open thereby at least bringing peace to some extent.
“The question is ‘why are we asking Ghanaians to vote for the political parties to engage in local elections or otherwise? There must be proper education,” he said.
He urged Ghanaians not to be deceived by what the politicians were saying but seek more information on the issues and the implications as the decisions could affect our lives in the near future.
Source: GNA