Major General Nii Carl Coleman (Rtd.), Chairman of Civic  Forum Initiative (CFI), has reiterated the need for setting up a multiparty democracy fund to support political parties develop their manifestos and policy programmes.

He said the fund should not necessarily be the sole responsibility of government, but co-operate organisations and other institutions could also be partners.

Major General Coleman made the call during a forum organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) in Cape Coast to galvanize public support for the opening up of the Constitutional Amendment Process (CAP) and the urgency for adoption of the Multi–Party Governance (MPG) Reforms before the 2016 elections.

The forum, organised in collaboration with the CFI, National Peace Council and other partners with sponsorship from STAR-Ghana, brought together heads of department, traditional leaders, assembly members, non-governmental organisations, youth groups and a cross-section of the public.

Major General Coleman emphasised the need for political parties to build policy research departments which would be responsible for the crafting of realistic and development-oriented manifestos and policies to address challenges faced by the country.

He proposed the setting up of a multi-party commission to regulate political party activities and monitor how they would interpret those policies in order to serve as the basis for electing any particular party into government as well as creating an enabling environment for MPG in the country.

He said metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives must be elected instead of being appointed and that all elections at the assembly level should be party-based.

Participants commended the efforts of IDEG and its partners for the initiative and pledged their support in the fight for the adoption of multi–party governance reforms.