Safeguard nation’s sovereignty - NCCE urges Immigration Service

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has urged the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to live up to its responsibility of safeguarding the sovereignty of the country at all times.

The Chairperson of the NCCE, Ms Josephine Nkrumah, said that was crucial in sustaining the nation’s peace and stability.

Ms Nkrumah, who was speaking at a meeting with the GIS in Accra yesterday, said the role of the GIS in maintaining the country’s unity was also important.

“You are the ones at the borders and so you are the gatekeepers of our nation and to be a gatekeeper, you should be gatekeeping from external aggression as well as internal actions that can derail the gatekeeping mandate.

“And so, the role of the GIS in maintaining our unitary state is of critical importance,” she added.

Significance

The meeting formed part of activities marking the 2021 National Constitution Week, which celebration started on April 28, 2021.

The celebration was on the theme: “We are one, Ghana first”. It sought to emphasise the need for people to put the country first, rally round the constitution and defend it at all times.

As part of the celebration, the NCCE is expected to engage with all security agencies in the country to remind them of their duties and responsibilities.

This brings to two the number of security agencies the NCCE had so far interacted with after a similar meeting with the Ghana Prisons Service.

Defending the Constitution

Ms Nkrumah further entreated the security to protect the tenets and values of the 1992 Constitution.

“What sets the 1992 Constitution apart from other constitutions is the provision in Article Three which encourages every Ghanaian to take steps to defend the constitution against violation and abuse.

“It even goes further to state that anybody who takes measures to defend the constitution commits no offence, and so we are encouraged to do everything possible to restore the constitution, should anyone seek to overthrow its existence.

“As Ghanaians, we should note that the current constitution is the sovereign will of all of us and we should do everything within our power to protect it,” she added.

Commendation

The Comptroller-General of the GIS, Mr Kwame Asuah Takyi, commended the NCCE for being innovative and proactive rather than reactive in the execution of its mandate.

He described the establishment of the NCCE as provided by the constitution as significant since it was living up to its mandate of educating the people on their rights and responsibilities.

On the COVID-19 pandemic,the Comptroller-General said its impact required a collective approach to curb the spread of the virus in the country.

“The virus has spread its infectious tentacles to every part of the world, impacting negatively on human health across continents. As Ghanaians, we need to support efforts by the government to stop the spread by taking the jab,” he said.