The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference has launched an Election 2012 project aimed at ensuring peaceful elections in December and a smooth political transition.
Dubbed �Civic Agenda for Smooth Political Transition� (CAST FOR GHANA), the project seeks to mobilise all available resources, including eminent citizens of Ghana, to achieve that goal.
The National Catholic Secretariat is leading the implementation of the CAST FOR GHANA project, in collaboration with other faith-based organisations.
The project, involving election education and campaign, targets at least five million people who constitute the Catholic population in the country, and hopefully, through a multiplier effect, will reach a larger population.
�We exhort all Ghanaians not to lose faith in our ability to make it once again through this year of electioneering and elections from now through to December and beyond�, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, Most Rev. Charles Palmer-Buckle, stated at the launch of CAST FOR GHANA in Accra today.
He said having acquitted itself creditably in the past, earning enviable accolades as �Africa�s beacon of hope� and �The land of peace and democratic excellence�, all eyes were on Ghana to deliver a sixth-time election success.
�We have every reason to be confident, albeit not complacent, for Ghana, our beloved country, has been to the polls five good times already since 1992�, he pointed out.
The CAST FOR GHANA project will roll out three significant services � to achieve national consensus and support for the biometric system in the 2012 elections, to campaign for the passage of the Presidential Transition Bill before the election, and to encourage both winners and losers of the election to accept the official results in good faith and help mitigate post-election conflicts.
On achieving national consensus and support for the biometric system, Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle said the leadership of the Catholic
Church sought to undertake civic education at the provincial, diocesan and parish levels, in partnership with the media.
With respect to the passage of the Presidential Transition Bill, he said �We the Bishops have intensified our efforts and interaction with Parliament to heighten their sense of urgency for the passage of this important bill�.
While calling on Parliament to pass the bill as a matter of urgency, he urged the government to ensure that the necessary institutional frameworks for the implementation of the law were put in place expeditiously, as soon as the bill was passed.
In order to achieve the goal of mitigating post-election conflicts, Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle said the church would train and deploy more than 1,500 election observers, especially in rural and conflict-prone constituencies.
Furthermore, he noted, �We are also working with other organisations like the IEA and the Christian Council of Ghana to have a contingency plan for a rapid response of eminent Ghanaians who can intervene and dialogue during unexpected situations of post-election conflicts�.
Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle called for a truce in the battle of insults across the political divide and advised politicians who could not control their temper to stay away from radio stations.
�If pastries don�t help your stomach, don�t go to the bakery�, he put it proverbially, and urged the media to avoid glorifying frivolity and instead focus on discussing real issues.
The Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Mrs Jean Mensa, who chaired the launch, lauded the initiative of the Catholic Church as an important step towards consolidating democracy in the country.
She encouraged all Ghanaians of voting age to turn out in their numbers during the biometric voter registration exercise scheduled to take place later this month to enable them to vote in the December election.
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