The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is asking Ghanaians not to carry Kalyppo fruit juice with them when they go to cast their votes on December 7.
Their plea stems from the fact that Kalyppo has become synonymous with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and carrying it to the polling station may incite violence.
The fruit juice became associated with the NPP after a picture of the NPP's presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, sipping the fruit juice emerged on social media and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) sought to ridicule him.
In what became known as the Kalyppo Craze, many NPP supporters took pictures of themselves sipping the fruit juice and posted them on social media in solidarity with their leader.
However, according to Mr Alhassan Yakubu, the Ashanti Regional Director of NCCE, this development meant Kalyppo had become part of the NPP's campaign materials for this year's election and would contravene CI 94, the constiutional instrument regulating the elections, if it si brought to the polling station.
"The CI 94 which is regulating the presidential and parliamentary election says that nobody on Election Day should do anything that will identify him or her with any political party such as wearing party paraphernalia, T-shirt, cup or doing anything that will portray your political colour.
"I am coming from that background that for this year 2016, You and I know that Kalyppo, it is Nana Addo who has been using Kalyppo to propagate his party.
"And the law says that do not do anything that will identify you on the polling day. So why carry Kalyppo that will identify you?", he said in an interview with pulse.com.gh
But in as much as Mr Yakubu's statement may be borne out of a genuine concern for a violence free election, it is flawed and it is quite puzzling that the NCCE would misconstrue the provision in the CI 94 to include the drinking of Kalyppo as a party paraphernalia.
There is no doubt Kalyppo is not part of the paraphernalia CI 94 is talking about because there is no party in Ghana with anything related to the fruit juice as part of its official logo or emblem which is the first thing that would identify a party's paraphenerlia.
It must not be forgotten that to properly and fairly enforce this advice or directive, voters would also have to be advised against carrying umbrellas to a polling station because the umbrella can be identified with a political party.
But as we all know that an umbrella is supposed to cover and protect people from the hot sun on the day, so is the Kalyppo fruit juice to serve as refreshment to people who may feel dehydrated from the heat of the sun.
It will, therefore, be preposterous to say voters should neither carry umbrella nor Kalyppo fruit juice to the polling station because they both represent party paraphernalia or things that could be identified with particular political parties.
And come to think of it, we may not even sweep the polling stations on election day because a political party has a broom as its logo.
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