Graphic begins town hall meetings in Bolgatanga today
The Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) will have its maiden edition of town hall meetings with political parties for the 2016 elections in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region today.
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The meetings are part of efforts by the GCGL to bring the activities of political parties closer to the electorate for the 2016 elections.
Various political parties, including the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), the People’s National Convention (PNC) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP), will make 15-minute presentations of their readiness for free and fair elections on December 7, 2016.
Efforts to contact other political parties were difficult, as telephone calls were not answered.
Town hall meetings
Similar meetings will be held in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, Cape Coast in the Central Region and Koforidua in the Eastern Region.
The theme for the town hall engagements is: “Good governance, key to growth and development in Ghana”.
The political party representatives will speak on their plans for infrastructural development, job creation to maximise human capital, energy as a catalyst to propel the industrial agenda, education to enhance the national cause to be part of the league of nations and agriculture for food sufficiency and export.
Institutions participating in the town hall meetings are the police, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Immigration Service, as well as civil society organisations and vulnerable groups which will engage the parties for their plans for the country.
The novelty edition of the town hall meetings by the GCGL began in 2012 in selected regional capitals, including Tamale in the Northern Region, Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, Takoradi in the Western Region and Ho in the Volta Region.
It is recalled that the GCGL, on July 18, this year, held a dialogue with registered political parties in Accra, during which it outlined a number of activities aimed at ensuring peaceful, free and fair elections later this year.
The programme formed part of the GCGL’s efforts at deepening democratic processes and bringing the visions and programmes of the various parties to the electorate.
Participants
In all, 26 political parties were identified and invited, but invitation letters could be delivered to only 17 of them. The offices of the remaining nine could not be located.
The parties that attended the dialogue were the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), the National Democratic Party (NDP), the PPP, the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) and the United People’s Party (UPP).
The rest were the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), the CPP, the United Front Party (UFP), the Independent People’s Party (IPP), the NDC and the PNC.
Activities
Outlining the programme of activities by the company, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, the Director of Newspapers at the GCGL, said just as it did in the 2012 elections, the company would hold town hall meetings for the political parties to tell the public and other electoral institutions what they were doing and what they would do to ensure peace and orderliness before, during and after the elections.
The second of such meetings, he said, would be held in Sunyani on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 for the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, while the one for the north would be held in Bolgatanga today.
“The third will take place in Koforidua on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 for the Eastern and Volta regions, while the fourth and final one will take place in Cape Coast for the Central and Greater Accra regions,” he said.