CiPED Flays Politicians

Manuella Appiah, President of the Civilized Politics for Enhanced Democracy (CiPED), has chided politicians in the country over what she describes as �unfulfilled electoral promises.� She said without a doubt, politicians had over the years taken the Ghanaian electorate for granted, a development she noted, was unacceptable. According to the CiPED co-founder, it is very common to hear politicians making fantastic and over-ambitious promises before elections, just to win the votes of the electorate and later call it a mere �political talk.� Speaking to the DAILY GUIDE on a wide range of issues ahead of a National Consultation slated for October 21, 2014, in Accra, Ms Appiah was emphatic that some politicians �even rub it in with impunity and say �electoral promises are not laws��. She stated that the passion with which Ghanaians go to the polls should give no politician the right to take the people for granted, insisting that �On an election day, Ghanaians will stand in the rain, in sickness, in old age, from morning till evening, just to cast their votes, either to maintain or make a presumed needed change, but politicians seem to forget that. Lying to gain political mandate is a breach of the trust of electorate.� Ms Appiah further noted that the era when politicians literally bought the votes of the electorate with foodstuffs, fuel, money, cooking oil, among others, are gradually fading away, adding that that is a remarkable improvement. �Undertaking civil actions but also literally partaking in for instance, volunteer work to promote community development, shall send strong signals to politicians that the people know that they deserve better and encourage the former to therefore stop taking electorate for granted,� Ms Appiah charged. She urged the electorate to shun politicians who resort to insulting their perceived political opponents. �As Ghanaians our traditional and cultural values demand that we afford respect to all, especially the elderly and authorities, irrespective of which side of a debate they belong to,� she underscored. Ms Appiah noted that the politics of attacking the messenger and not addressing the message had become the order of the day, thus robbing the electorate of the opportunity to develop crucial strategies to effectively deal with issues of national concern. CiPED is a movement that engages many Ghanaians to partake in �true democracy.� It plans to among other things, develop an electronic voting aid which the electorate can use to weigh their �developmental wishes� against those in political parties� manifestos.