Catholic Bishops deplore election-related violence
The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference has bemoaned what it terms the sudden surge in election-related violence in the country’s body politic.
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It has, therefore, called on all political leaders, activists and supporters to refrain from such misconduct, as both inter-party and intra-party violence, particularly that witnessed in some parties, is threatening the country’s democracy and peace.
“These unfortunate happenings do not reflect the peaceful and non-violent nature of Ghanaians. We urge politicians to beware of their pronouncements and activities,” it said.
This was contained in a communique issued at the end of the plenary assembly of the Bishops in Bolgatanga last Saturday.
It was on the theme: “The laity in the context of the new evangelisation”.
The conference expressed its confidence in the ability of the security agencies to deal swiftly with all reported cases of violence without fear or favour, stressing that “in the run-up to the 2016 elections, care must be taken not to allow political activities to degenerate into chaos and violence”.
Voters register
For a credible voters register for future elections, the conference called for the National Identification Authority (NIA) to be resourced to deliver on its mandate to register all persons, Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians living in the country and compile a reliable database which could be used by the Electoral Commission (EC) to compile a credible voters register.
It commended the EC for the steps it had taken so far to involve all major stakeholders in finding an acceptable solution to the issue.
“We reiterate our call that all who are involved in this process must be open, honest and truthful in their approach to this exercise. At the same time, the EC must be given the chance and space to handle the issue dispassionately and objectively in the best interest of the nation,” it said.
The communique further proposed that the EC should display the current voters register on its website in the name of transparency to enable the electorate to check the list of voters and know where their names were located.
Education
On education, it called on the government to abolish the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) and replace it with a more workable and transparent version.
It stated that it was the inalienable right of parents and guardians to choose schools for their children and wards.
“We reaffirm our conviction that it is not the right of a computer, programmed by a prone-to-corruption human being, to choose schools for our students,” the communique stressed.
It expressed regret that successive policies in education reforms in recent times had systematically sidelined the educational units, making them ineffective.
Unemployment
It said unemployment constituted perhaps the biggest social issue confronting the country, a situation which, it said, had been worsened by the turning out of many unskilled graduates from schools.
“This army of unemployed youth often engage in undesirable immoral behaviours like prostitution and armed robbery. To stem this tide of affairs, we recommend that the state turn some of the community senior high schools currently under construction into community vocational and technical schools and continue to equip and resource the existing vocational and technical institutes in the country,” it stated.
Bribery and corruption
The communique stressed that the recent exposure of alleged judicial corruption by Mr Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye PI team had left Ghanaians in no doubt that society was pervasively corrupt.
It encouraged all to accept that corruption was a weakness that was destroying the country and repent accordingly.
It further appealed to all Catholics, other Christians “and all who call on the name of God to bear good witness to their faith by resisting bribery and corruption, knowing that there is reward for honesty and integrity”.