Ban on politics at campuses of tertiary schools is unconstitutional – NCCE

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), on Friday said the call for a ban on the formation of political groups in tertiary institutions was unconstitutional.

“The NCCE considers the comments by a civic educator, Mr Stephen Agyei-Yeboah, Acting Agona East District Director of NCCE as a very distressing exposure of the poor knowledge of the Constitution.

“The 1992 Constitution grants every citizen of Ghana the right to join a political party of their choice and take part in the legitimate activities of their chosen political party,” Paapa Nketia, NCCE Director of Communication and Corporate Affairs, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra.

Paapa Nketia, who was reacting to the call, said the Commission considered it as unfortunate and dissociated itself from the pronouncements of Mr Agyei-Yeboah.

Paapa Nketia said the NCCE since its establishment had worked hard, particularly with the youth of Ghana to ensure that all Ghanaians were politically engaged and conversant with their civic rights and responsibilities.

Indeed, “Our 850 civic education clubs (active in the many second and third tier institutions throughout Ghana) and many of our programmes are aimed at creating active and politically engaged youth who can sustain and promote Ghana’s democracy now and the future”, he said.

Paapa Nketia said the Commission was currently undertaking various programmes to build capacity of the Commission’s approximately 1800 staff.

“We wish to assure all Ghanaians that we are committed to delivering on our constitutional mandate. We will continue to work towards ensuring that all Ghanaians are aware of their civic rights and responsibilities.

“We will continue to work towards sustaining and promoting democracy in Ghana,” he said.

A GNA report indicates that during the inauguration of Agona East Inter-Party Dialogue Committee, recently, Mr Agyei-Yeboah, called on Parliament to ban the formation of political groupings in tertiary educational institutions in the country.

He explained that student political groupings such as TESCON and TEIN were encouraging indiscipline in Ghanaian tertiary institutions.

Mr Agyei-Yeboah said as students whose education was being taken care of by their parents or relatives, they should not be allowed to participate in active partisan politics, because  it could affect their academic performance.

Source: GNA