<<Print>>

The National Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who is also chairman of the Inter Party Youth Committee (IPYC), Ludwig Hlodze has appealed to vice chancellors in the country not to ban political activities on their campuses. According to him, IPYC had gathered that some universities in the country were planning to ban all political activities on their campuses. He stated that IPYC, after thoroughly discussing the matter, realized that the ban on political activities on university campuses would hamper democracy in the country. Ludwig argued that the move, no matter how justified it may be, would be a �slap� in the face of democracy in Ghana, stressing that university campuses were ideal for the training of future politicians. Speaking at a day�s IPYC workshop in Kumasi, the NDC National Youth Organizer said political ideologies, training and mentoring were adopted effectively on campuses. On behalf of the IPYC, Ludwig passionately appealed to the various universities to meet the leadership of the various political parties to address the problems, stating �we are ready to meet you.� Organized by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES,) the workshop was targeted at representatives of the four political parties in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, namely, NPP, NDC, CPP and PNC. Ludwig appealed to all stakeholders, notably the EC, security agencies and the media to act professionally in the dissemination of information to the public to help sustain peace in Ghana. IPYC, he stated, was committed to playing key roles to help sustain Ghana�s peaceful atmosphere, admonishing the youth of the country not to allow politicians to use them to foment trouble. Held at the TUC Conference Hall in Kumasi last Saturday, the well patronized programme was under the theme �Sustaining Peace Before, during and After Elections 2012.� Prof. R.K. Nkum, Provost of College of Science, KNUST, on his part, said the time has come for various political parties to encourage their party members to behave properly on the various campuses. He bemoaned undue tension on university campuses due to political activities which seemed to have affected academic work and peaceful environment on the campuses. He called on various political parties to desist from negatively influencing their members in order to help sustain peace and academic work. Gideon Boako, the Ashanti Regional Youth Organizer of the NPP, stated that the NPP and for that matter Nana Ado Dankwa Akufo-Addo were committed to ensuring peace in the December elections. Hajara Mohammed Rufai, Coordinator FES, explained that the nationwide programme was geared towards advocating peace, especially among the youth. She sternly cautioned the youth not to allow themselves to be used by politicians who would pay them money to cause mayhem to disrupt the important national exercise.