Discard notion of being an appendage - President Akufo-Addo tells NCCE

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has advised the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to shed any perception that it operated as an appendage of any political party.

Rather, he said, the loyalties of the NCCE must be solely to the Constitution and the people of Ghana.

“It is important for its credibility, in fulfilling its mandate, that the Commission sheds any lingering perception that it works as an appendage of any particular political party.

Its loyalties have to be to the Constitution of the Republic and the good people of Ghana, not any party,” the President stressed.

President Akufo-Addo gave the advice when he launched an inter-university quiz/debate on the 1992 Constitution dubbed: “University Civic Challenge” in Accra yesterday.

It is on the theme: “Restoring Our Ghanaian Values as Active Citizens.” In all, 16 universities have been selected to participate in the competition that is being organised as part of activities marking the 60th anniversary of Ghana’s independence.

Support for NCCE

The President said the appreciable increase in the budgetary allocation of the NCCE in the 2017 budget was an indication that the government was committed to resourcing the commission, to help it achieve its mandate, and would continue to address its logistical and financial needs.

Since its establishment some 25 years ago, he noted that the NCCE had done its part in helping Ghanaians to recognise the importance of their freedoms and duties, even though it could still do better.

President Akufo-Addo said despite concerns raised in some quarters about the effectiveness of the commission, with some advocating its abolition, he was of a different opinion.

“I believe the NCCE continues to be relevant, and still has an important role to play in helping establish a culture of awareness in which citizens are alive to their civic responsibilities, “he said.   

Theme

Elaborating on the theme, “Restoring our values as active citizens”, the President said it sought to tell Ghanaians not to lose sight of their history.

“It is incumbent on all of us to know and understand the laws governing our country, and jealously guard the freedoms and liberties guaranteed us by the Constitution,” he emphasised.

The study of the constitution, therefore, the President said, ought not to be left to students of the various law faculties in universities, nor just to lawyers.

“As active citizens, we must all be interested in the fundamental law of the land, and be able to speak to issues regarding our human rights and civic responsibilities,” he stated.

NCCE commended

President Akufo-Addo commended the NCCE for what he described as a laudable initiative, aimed at testing the familiarity of the students of the universities with the constitution.

He said the competition ought to go beyond who emerged the winner and who followed, to bring out knowledge on why the constitution came into being, why it provided guidelines for the functioning of the state, and why together, all Ghanaians ought to work to ensure that the three arms of the government - the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary - lived up to their respective charters and acted as checks and balances on one another.

He said 60 years since independence had been a long tortuous journey that had seen the country overcome trials and tribulations, including slavery, imperialism, colonialism, tyranny and dictatorship.

Recall

President Akufo-Addo recalled that authoritarian rule in the post-independence era subverted the promise of the independence movement of freedom and worsened the living standards of the people.

It was against that background, he said, that Ghana experienced, at the beginning of the 1990s, a strong revival of the democratic aspirations that lay at the heart of the independence movement.

Consequently, he said on April 28, 1992, they approved, by an overwhelming margin in the referendum of that day, the adoption of the Constitution of the Fourth Republic, which set up the institutions of a liberal democratic state, operating on the basis of the separation of powers, with express guarantees of fundamental human rights protected by an independent Judiciary.

“Today, we are now recognised as the beacon of democracy and stability on the continent, as a country governed in accordance with the tenets of our Constitution.

The great majority of us believe that entrenching the principles of democratic accountability, respect for human rights and individual liberties and the rule of law at the very core of our body politic, is critical to our nation’s chances of meaningful development in this 21st century,” President Akufo-Addo said.

He added that it was not an accident that the Fourth Republic had proved to be the most stable of all the republics, with strong prospects of permanence and expressed the hope that it endured.

Equipping the youth

The Chairperson of the NCCE, Ms Josephine Nkrumah, for her part, said the competition formed part of the commission’s celebration of the country’s 60th anniversary.

She said the role of the youth in shaping the future of the nation, now more than ever, had to be a prominent priority.

In the face of severe logistical constraints, Ms Nkrumah said, workers of the commission in all the 216 districts, continued to perform their duties diligently.

“If we envision a future of phenomenal transformation of our country, then active citizenship through civic education cannot be ignored any longer,” she stressed.

She, therefore, implored the government to provide the commission with the crucial logistics that it required to deliver effectively on its mandate.

Writer’s email: victor.kwawukume@graphic.com.gh