Lecturer blames government for fading national identity

Dr Kenneth Aikins, Lecturer at the Department of Humanities and Legal Development at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has blamed successive Governments after independence of failing to re-orient the people to restore the Ghanaian identity.

Their failure, he said had led to the changes in values such as the dwindling sense of nationalism, patriotism, collective sense as one people, hard work and strong self-spirit among Ghanaians in recent times.

Dr Aikins was speaking at an engagement forum with security agencies as part of the National Commission for Civic Education’s (NCCE) 2017 National Constitution week celebration in Cape Coast.

He said the Ghanaian society, through colonialism was socialised and premised on the foundation of exploiting the country’s resources and persecution and did not encourage some of the desired positive values underpinning progress and national development.

He said “instead of re-orienting our roles as Ghanaians, our leaders saw it as an easy channel to amass wealth”.

“Yes you came to meet a system premised on a certain foundation of exploiting the country’s resources and persecuting people, but we have independence so it was up to the leaders to re-orient our lives. But they also saw it as an easy channel to amass wealth”. He said

He said there was still a familiar outlook of the evolution of the state security agencies and the judicial system created by the colonial masters to primarily protect and secure their economic exploitation of the country.

“These institutions and mechanisms were basically sustained by the political elite of the country after independence to protect their parochial interests and for national unity, and little has changed in that approach to security”. He said

Dr Aikins also blamed the country’s educational system for failing to shape the people to become complete and responsible citizens.

He said the system did not seek to inculcate desired positive values but girted towards creating people to pass examination without having effective critical thinking minds to access issues to distinguish between wrong and right.

Mr Nicolas Ofori Boateng, Central Regional Director of the NCCE explained that the rationale behind the celebration of the National Constitution Week was to remind Ghanaians of the existence of the 1992 Constitution as the fundamental law of the land and how far the country had fared in nurturing its democracy.

The week-long celebration, he said would be characterised by series of events and activities based on the theme of national interest and concern which include; a national dialogue on the restoration of the Ghanaian identity.

He was optimistic that through the dialogue, key strategies for achieving national aspirations and restoring the Ghanaian identity would be defined and called on all to support the NCCE to properly carry out its duties.

He urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to accept the call to introduce Civic Education in schools’ curricula to inculcate civic responsibility in pupils at their early ages.