General News of Saturday, 28 December 2013

Source: peacefmonline.com

Atuguba and Co. need education on elections – Yaw Boateng Gyan

National Organiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Yaw Boateng Gyan, has asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to educate judges on electoral processes.

According to him, once it has been instituted that aggrieved political parties can go to court if they are not satisfied with electoral results then there is the need for some form of education.

Reminiscing proceedings at the landmark election petition, he said some of the questions the judges asked “gave me the impression that they had little or no knowledge of our electoral processes.”

Contributing to panel discussions on Peace FM’s morning show, ‘Kokrokoo’, the presidential staffer suspected that one of the reasons why the case somewhat dragged in court, was because of lack of knowledge on the part of the judges concerning how elections are held in the country.

“There is the need to look at how quickly or swiftly such cases be dealt with…During proceedings, if you listened to some of the question the judges kept asking, you realize they don’t know much about what goes on during an election…I will recommend that the Electoral Commission educates the judges on our electoral processes so that when cases of such nature goes before them, they will be well informed…EC should organize something like a seminar for the judges to know the election procedures,” he asserted.

The NDC National Organiser also appealed to his fellow politicians to impress on their members, the need not to indulge in politics of insults.

“One of the lessons we should learn from the election petition is oneness in our politics; devoid of insults and defamation…politics is not about insults. If we don’t stop such attitude as a country we will take one step forward and ten steps backwards…Political parties should educate and prove to their members that we are not enemies to be attacking each other,” he added.