NCCE steps up referendum campaign

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has embarked on a nationwide educational campaign to whip up interest and participation in the December 17 referendum and election to elect assembly and unit committee members.

The referendum is to determine whether to amend Article 55 clause (3) or not which is an entrenched provision in the 1992 Constitution which bars political parties from participating in district level elections.

The educational campaign by the NCCE is a communication strategy which the institution has adopted to enable it to reach out to the citizenry to turn out massively to vote on the issues at stake.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Chairperson of the NCCE, Ms Josephine Nkrumah, indicated that lack of adequate funding to the commission would not deter the NCCE from going beyond the barriers to educate Ghanaians on what they were expected to do as citizens.

She said after the official launch of the education and awareness-raising campaign in September, this year, in Accra, the institution had gone ahead to launch similar campaigns in all the 15 regions in the country.

She was responding to concerns by some Ghanaians that the NCCE was not doing its work as mandated by the 1992 Constitution, especially with regard to sensitisation on the election of assembly members, unit committee members and the referendum.

Education

Ms Nkrumah pointed out that the institution had begun radio and TV campaigns across the country as a way of letting Ghanaians know the big issues in the December 17 referendum and district level elections.

‘‘We have organised community durbars, staging lot of drama, visiting the markets, mosques, churches to educate Ghanaians. We are very active on social media because every information about the election is on facebook, twitter, instagram.

‘‘Jingles are being aired on radio and TV. There are also videos and educational materials such as T-shirts, stickers and posters. We are also at lorry stations and bus terminals, and these are tools of communication we are using to reach out to the citizenry,’’ she emphasised.

Ms Nkrumah added that the institution had also started a dawn to dusk announcement using community information centres so that the message would get to every Ghanaian.
She said the educational campaign was being funded by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

Advocate

Ms Nkrumah said the time had come for Ghanaians to advocate for resources for the NCCE to enable it to carry out its broad mandate of instilling nationalism and patriotism in Ghanaians and educating them on the duties of citizens, the environment, democracy, participation in elections and peace building.

‘‘We never seem to have enough funding but the NCCE as a government institution cannot shirk its responsibilities in playing certain roles that are critical in changing the mindset of the citizenry. That is why we visit basic and senior high schools and tertiary institutions to educate them on their civic rights,’’ Ms Nkrumah said.