Tamale-Ghana, May 24, GNA – Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed, Northern Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has said civic education activities spearheaded by the NCCE over the years have contributed significantly to the consolidation of the country’s democratic governance.
He said civic engagement platforms such as the annual Constitution Week, Inter-party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meetings, Presidential and Parliamentary Candidates’ Debate, and other forms of voter education such as Political Party Youth Activist (PPYAs) platforms and special engagements with marginalised groups had contributed to the entrenchment of democratic culture and successful conduct of eight general election in the country.
Alhaji Mohammed said this when he addressed members of the security agencies in Tamale as part of this year’s Constitution Week celebrations.
The NCCE, in 2001, instituted the annual Constitution Week celebrations as a flagship programme to commemorate the country’s return to constitutional democratic rule after the citizenry voted favourably in a referendum on April 28,1992 to adopt the draft Fourth Republican Constitution, which came into force on January 07, 1993.
In line with the Constitution Week celebrations, the Northern Regional Directorate of the NCCE orgnised a week-long engagement with the security agencies to recognise their contributions in sustaining the 1992 Constitution for the past 30 years.
The security agencies were Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Immigration Service and Ghana Revenue Authority (Customs Division).
This year’s celebration, which marked 30 years of the creation of the NCCE, was on the theme: “Thirty Years of Consolidating Constitutional Democracy: Building National Cohesion through Civic Education and Participation in Local Governance”.
Alhaji Mohammed said the country had made giant strides in consolidating democracy for the past 30 years, adding that, “Prominent amongst them were the periodic elections and peaceful change of government over the period, the growth and proliferation of the media, the fourth Republic being the longest uninterrupted period of stable constitutional governance in the annals of Ghana’s political history.”
He said in spite of the gains, there were challenges and cited the perception of corruption, which still remained a major socio-economic problem.
He said the security of the nation was being threatened by domestic issues such as chieftaincy disputes, ethnic conflicts, land disputes, vigilantism and cyber security.
He said, “The growing mistrust between the citizens and some elements of the country’s security services, which has led to violent confrontations between sections of the public and some security agencies in recent times have been worrying.”
Alhaji Mohammed said the security of the country was also threatened by the activities of violent extremists operating in neighbouring Sahelian regions, adding that, “These threats could trigger the spill-over of violent activities by extremist groups operating in the sub-region into the adjoining communities in the northern parts of Ghana.”
He urged the security services to revive and build confidence and trust with communities as part of measures to ensure the re-engineering of a positive security-civilian relationship for a peaceful co-existence, and national cohesion.
He said the poor patronage and the disinterest of the citizens in participation in local government elections. “As the country prepares for yet another District Level Elections this year, the NCCE urges Ghanaians to actively participate to boost the turn-out that has been consistently low in the past District Level Elections.”
