Stop using children for campaign adverts - NCCE

Mr. Kenneth Kponoh, the Volta Regional Director, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has cautioned political parties against the use of minors in promoting political campaign advertisements.

He said using children under 18 in a “fierce political landscape” put them at the risk of thinking they were capable of doing what the elderly were into, though they were not psychologically mature for that.

Mr Kponoh gave the caution at a workshop, organised by the NCCE, in partnership with the Ghana News Agency, with funding from the European Union (EU) on the concept of Democracy ahead of the 2016 Polls.

He said the developing phenomenon where children were used to promote political agenda was bad for the country’s growing democracy; since the Children’s Act clearly spelt out when one was of age to join politics.

Madam Doris Gbongbo, the Deputy Director of Programmes, NCCE, expressed concern about the tendency of some to intimidate women, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and other marginalised groups in politics.

She, therefore, called on the public to put a stop to acts that hindered such people from exercising their democratic rights.

Mr Tenasu Kofi Gbedemah, the Regional Focal Person at the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), called on the major political parties to make elections more tolerable and “palatable”.