The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) on Monday stated that it would never promote any political party's interest at the expense of multi-party democracy and warned that any if its officials attempted to use the Commission to promote a particular party's interest he would be made to face the law.
The NCCE Chairman, Mr Laary Bimi said the Commission would stick to the promotion of multi-party democracy by extensive civic education on citizens' rights, duties, freedoms and responsibilities.
Mr Bimi was answering a question at a Forum in Accra on the role of the Commission in projecting political parties.
A questioner had contended that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) seemed to overshadow other political parties in all political activities nationwide.
She said the situation was creating the impression of a non-existence of other political parties, especially in the rural areas. She added that this was sending the other parties into oblivion and, therefore, asked the NCCE to mount a programme to promote the small parties.
Mr Bimi said the NCCE had no mandate to project political parties and asked the parties to take responsibility for their promotion without driving the Commission to do such promotion for them.
The forum was part of the activities marking the Third Annual Constitution Week celebration.
The Week, which marks the 10th Anniversary of 1992 Constitution, is being held from April 28 to May 3, on the theme: "A Decade Of Constitutionalism In Ghana -Strategies For Consolidation."
The week is aimed at creating an increased and sustained interest and participation of all Ghanaians in the new democratic dispensation for the achievement of good governance, social and political stability for national unity and development.
It would also be used to assess 10 years of constitutional rule, pitfalls and challenges with a view to strengthening good governance through effective and resourceful democratic institutions and civil society.
The youth would be the focal point of this year's celebration to instil in them the essence of constitutionalism and democratic governance and the need to defend the Constitution at all cost.
Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Executive Director, Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana,) in an address read on his behalf by the Associate Director, Dr Baafour Agyemang-Duah, said the 1992 Constitution had fostered an unprecedented enjoyment of civil liberties such as freedom of expression and association, and from arbitrary arrest and detention.
He said the Constitution had also made it possible for Ghana not only to have a robust civil society and a vibrant independent media, but also enjoyed political stability under civilian administrations without any constitutional crisis.
It had also produced three successful multi party elections, the third one of which was a peaceful political turnover and power change.
Professor Gyimah-Boadi said a nationwide public opinion survey involving 1,200 respondents conducted in September 2002 indicated a strong support for democracy and the freedoms associated with it, as well as a growing confidence and trust in some of the key institutions of democratic governance.
Eighty-two per cent of the respondents expressed preference for democracy, and 76 per cent perceived Ghana's current political system to be democratic, with 24 per cent perceiving it as an imperfect democracy.
Professor Gyimah-Boadi said 87 per cent of Ghanaians believed that the best means of choosing national leaders was through competitive party-based elections.
He said in the context of promoting liberal democracy and constitutionalism, against a backdrop of severe financial, technical and other scarcities, civic education could best be delivered efficiently only if it involved multiple agencies in state, civil society and the private sector.
Monopolistic and state controlled approaches must be avoided, he said.
Give NCCE enough funds to perform constitutional duties -Director
The Central Regional secretariat of the Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), on Monday suggested that two per cent of the national budget be allocated for civic education to enable the Commission function effectively. The Regional Director, Mr Frank Adoba, who made the suggestion at a press briefing to launch the regional third national constitution week at Cape Coast said, " democracy cannot be established and consolidated on ignorance".
The theme for the celebration is, "decade of constitutionalism in Ghana-strategies for consolidation"
He appealed to parliament to revisit the approval of NCEE budget by the Ministry of Finance and put in place a special initiative on civic education in Ghana.
Mr. Adoba expressed concern about the inadequate funding of the commission that, he said, had made it impossible to perform its constitutional duties creditably.
"The government could propagate a number of good policies, but they will not succeed if people were not adequately informed on their benefits and implementation".
He regretted that civic education in Ghana has its history before independence and yet the Commission had not achieved its aims and objective because of the lack of adequate logistics and funding.
The Director said every thing was being done to salvage the bad image of the commission and called on the public to give it the necessary recognition.
Activities lined-up for the week-long celebration include talk show in churches, mosques, forum for fishermen, football gala, volleyball, table tennis, netball and handball.
