Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission in charge of Corporate Services, Dr. Bossman Asare, has charged the media to call out politicians and all persons who make inciteful comments in the run-up to the December elections.
According to him, media pluralism in the country has given rise to easy dissemination of information as people continue to weaponise false narratives to shape public discourses.
“It is the job of the media to name and shame those who have an objective of saying things to undermine [the electoral process]. In 1994, it was the media organisations in Rwanda who were saying that certain things were happening and suddenly people took up arms and they decided to kill others.”
“So, if you are a media organisation and you are covering the campaigns, once some people are making statements that they want to incite others, let’s make sure that we bring them to order,” he said on Thursday, September 12, 2024 at a lecture in Accra.
Some political actors on various campaign platforms have been cited for levelling accusations against their opponents, with some engaging in the use of intemperate language.
Dr. Bosssman Asare argued that such statements erode trust in the electoral process and can affect the country’s ranking on the Global Peace Index.
“[When] you look at the Global Peace Index, Ghana is one of the countries doing very, very well. So, this is something as a country we must be committed to maintaining. The next way to ensure that elections are peaceful as far as the media is concerned is to also interview politicians on their policies and manifestos.”
“It is very, very important because usually when you listen to the politicians, they say a lot of things but the media you need to sit them down and engage them,” he added.
On the issue of the voters register, the EC Deputy Chairperson insisted that the final register “to be used for the elections is also credible and robust.”
This follows consistent demands by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and some civil society organisations for a forensic audit of the register due to alleged illegal transfers of votes.
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The post Election 2024: The media must name and shame persons who make inciteful comments – Bossman Asare first appeared on 3News.
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