Political party youth in Jirapa Constituency have called for the name of their constituency to be removed from the list of “tagged” hotspot areas or constituencies.

The youth made the call during a workshop organized by the Jirapa Municipal office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Ambaahikpiengu Norbert, Municipal NCCE Director said in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency.

According to the statement, all the political party youth activists in a clarion call contained in a communiqué signed by their representatives asked for the scrapping of the Constituency in the list of tagged hotspot areas.

They also pledged amongst other things to; follow and adhere to all constitutional and other laws, rules and regulations pertaining to elections to ensure free, fair and a non-violent election before during and after the December 7 polls and subsequent elections.

“Unite as brothers and sisters and to tolerate each other’s views for the development of the constituency and Ghana as a whole,” it said.

According to the statement the Jirapa Municipal Office of NCCE with support from the European Union held a one-day workshop on 2nd December 2020 for 53 political party youth activists on the theme: “Empowering the youth to stand up for Ghana for a peaceful elections 2020.”

It was attended by representatives from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), National Democratic Party (NDP), People’s National Convention (PNC) and Convention People’s Party (CPP).

The workshop aimed to equip the youth activists with basic knowledge and skills on non-violence to enable them to participate effectively and ethically in the electoral process.

It was also to help them impart the knowledge gained to their peers for incident-free elections.

Studies show that political party youth activists are often perpetrators of violence, most of them, acting out of ignorance of the various regulations governing the conduct of elections.

Police Chief Inspector Francis Ackon, who stood in for the Municipal Police Commander, was quoted as having taken participants through the Public Order Act and Election 2020; prospects and challenges.

He said it was mandatory for all groups including political parties to give a 5-day prior notification to the police before holding public events.

He further indicated that the need for a peaceful election was important than the election itself and called on the youth activists to resist attempts by political parties to use them as tools to foment troubles before, during and after the December 7th polls.

He urged the youth of Jirapa to get the name of their constituency removed from the list of “hotspot tagged areas” by remaining tolerant and eschewing acts of lawlessness.

Mr Domabuge Emmanuel, Constituency Returning Officer, who stood in for the Electoral Commission Officer, took participants through Election Offences and Sanctions.

He cautioned participants to be very cautious of their choice of words and action before, during and after the elections.

He assured all that “the Commission cannot favour any political party in the elections” and that their doors were opened for all.

He also said elections were won at the polling stations and not through violence and therefore, entreated all to adhere to the laws of the electoral game for peaceful voting.