<<Print>>

Ghanaians have been urged to limit active election campaigns to the last three months before general elections. According to the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), any time longer than those three months risked undermining good governance in the country. Addressing a press conference in Accra last Tuesday, the President of the association, Nene Abayateye Amegatcher, said the association considered the conduct of elections as the single most important threat to national peace and life. He, therefore, called on the Electoral Commission to immediately consider implementing the recommendations offered by the Supreme Court following the 2012 election petition hearing while the court endorsed President John Dramani Mahama as the winner of the 2012 elections. The press conference covered issues bordering on the legal profession and matters of national and international concern. Ghana�s peace This year will be remembered for a number of demonstrations and protests around the country that drew the government�s attention to economic hardship and corruption in the country. The GBA president advised that in spite of the socio-economic and political challenges facing the country, Ghanaians should eschew the temptation to disturb the constitutional order and sacrifice the country�s peace and security through subtle suggestions and calls for civil strife and unconstitutional means for the removal of democratically elected governments. Nene Amegatcher, however, underscored the need to address economic challenges, including the rising inflation, depreciation of the cedi, soaring prices, high fuel and utility rates which, he said, had combined to make life difficult for the citizenry. He recommended a non-partisan national long-term framework to address the fundamental challenges in the areas of roads, education, health, unemployment, lawlessness/indiscipline, and corruption, among other problems. Nene Amegatcher expressed concern that a change of government in the country led to a change in positions of boards, heads of state-owned institutions, service commanders and other security service positions�changes which, he said, appeared to be so politicised. The concern comes against the backdrop of the fact that sometimes, it takes more than three months, after the coming into office of a new administration, to appoint members of boards to steer the affairs of such institutions. To stem the trend, the GBA emphasised the need for regulatory bodies and state institutions to assume the posture of strong institutions devoid of any political influence and exercise the mandate conferred on them by law.