Regional News of Friday, 9 March 2012

Source: GNA

All should contribute to make polls free and peaceful

Apostle Samuel Yaw Antwi, General Secretary of Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), has appealed to all Ghanaians to share in the responsibility of helping to make this year’s general election credible and peaceful.

He said everybody should accept to support and cooperate with the Electoral Commission (EC) for the smooth conduct of the polls.

Apostle Antwi also drew attention to the need to repudiate violence and other acts that might be unhelpful to the growth of the country’s democracy.

He gave the advice in a speech read for him at a workshop on the Biometric Voters’ Registration, organized jointly by the GPCC and the Office of the National Chief Imam in Kumasi.

It brought together about 100 pastors and imams and the goal was to educate them on the nationwide exercise fixed for March 24 to May 5.

Apostle Antwi noted that the upcoming elections offer faith-based organizations an opportunity to play their divinely-inspired role in the national developmental process.

They would have to calm tension in the society and assist the people to be tolerant of each other.

Mr Samuel Tettey, Ashanti Regional Director of the EC, said the Biometric Voters’ Register would help to check cheating and electoral fraud and cautioned against double registration and that offenders would be prosecuted.

Officials of the EC later took participants through the processes involved in the registration.