INFORMATION OFFICERS IN UPPER EAST UNDERGO TRAINING ON REFERENDUM & DLE 21st OCT., 2019

All 15 Municipal and District Information Officers in the Upper East Region and their respective Cinema Commentators have undergone a day’s training in Bolgatanga to enlighten them in readiness for field  public education campaigns on Ghana’s pending Referendum on the election of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives [MMDCEs]. 
Upper East RIO, Mr. Bennin making his presentation
 
The officers were also schooled on the District Level Elections [DLE] comprising the Unit Committee elections and the election of Assembly Members for the re-composition of the next functional assemblies.

Upper East Regional Information Officer [RIO] Mr. Bennin Douri Issifu who was the main resource person and facilitator for the training noted that, in times past and still in the current times, the Ghanaian populace depended largely on the Information Services Department [ISD] for accurate and reliable information on government’s policies and programmes. He therefore charged his officers to note down and memorise facts and other relevant information regarding the Referendum Question and the DLE in order to be able to send out easy and comprehensible information to the public.

Mr. Bennin added that, it was also part of the ISD’s mandate to record and collate reactions from the public on such education and awareness campaigns and to report same to government so as to enhance policy planning and strategy adaptation to achieve the targeted objectives for intended programmes and interventions. He said that the Department seeks to highlight the benefits the citizenry and the country as a whole stood to gain with the successful amendment of Articles 24 [1] and 55 [3] of the 1992 Constitution which will pave the way for the direct election of MMDCEs through universal adult suffrage and also, on partisan basis.
A cross section of the Information Officers at the training

According the RIO,  the successful acceptance of the Referendum Question with a “YES” vote record of 75 percent or more and with a total voter turn-out of 40 percent or above, will promote local democracy, make MMDCEs more responsible and directly accountable to the local people and also, break the winner-takes-all syndrome in the Ghanaian political culture among others.

He entreated his Information Officers not to embellish their campaign messages with “big grammar” but rather use simple everyday English and also be straight with the use of various local languages in their dissemination of information relating the Referendum Question and the DLE. He reminded the officers that, the date for the vote on the Referendum Question was 17th December, 2019 and would happen concurrently with the DLEs.

Mr. Bennin stated that the ISD in Upper East Region had no option but to deliver a quality job for this exercise, as it had performed creditably well in the past regarding similar public education campaigns for the Ghana Revenue Authority [GRA] and the Ghana National Household Registry [GNHR] just to mention a few. He hinted the ISD will use its traditional information vans, radio, social media platforms, visitations to churches and mosques, durbars and market centres to get the message down to the people.
Bolga MCE, Hon. Joseph Amiyuure speaking at the event

Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Joseph A. Amiyuure in his remarks at the training described the Information Officers as very critical and key allies in the successful conduct of the DLEs and positive response to the Referendum Question. He disclosed that himself and colleague MMDCEs had attended several engagement fora with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and other stakeholders on the subject matter and thus, pledged the support of the various assemblies to the ISD in the execution of the task.
     

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