NCCE urges public to respect the Constitution
Mrs Augustina Akosua Akumanyi, Deputy Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in-charge of Operations, on Tuesday said it was not advisable for the people to take the country’s multi-party democracy for granted.
She was speaking at a focus group discussion on Deepening and Consolidating Ghana’s Democracy at Shama.
The NCCE organized the programme in collaboration with the District Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC).
The group discussion was followed by a community durbar on the need for tolerance and peaceful elections.
Shama Assemblies of God Drama Group performed a drama; “Ghana will win” at the durbar.
Mrs Akumanyi said democracy has to be learned and practiced and “we all need to work hard to ensure that there is peace before, during and after the elections”.
She said everybody must play active part in sustaining democracy and peace in the country.
Mrs Akumanyi said: “We cannot sit back expecting our democracy to take care of itself and take no action ourselves”.
“We are democracy and power belongs to all of us especially the youth who will be future leaders,” she said, adding, “we all have to be vigilant”.
She said it is vital for the people to be aware that Ghana belonged to them irrespective of their different political beliefs.
Mrs Akumanyi said those who perpetrated terror in the society have nothing to do with reason or responsibility and everything to do with the perceived rights of a minority to attack and destroy the values of the majority which are freedom, democracy, equality and opportunity.
She said the politics of democracy are about public engagement, civil renewal and strengthening of society through the recognition and acceptance of responsibility.
Mrs Akumanyi said politicians could do a lot but without the engagement of citizens nothing much could be achieved.
She said it was also important that women got involved in all community activities as well as in the decision making process.
Mrs Akumanyi said the representation of women in all levels from the grassroots to the top was vital.
She said: “My view is that we still have a long way to go before we can say that our institutions properly represent women who outnumber men in the population census”.
Mrs Akumanyi said there was the need to respect the established institutions such as the Police, the Judiciary and the Electoral Commission (EC).
She said the people should all believe in the rule of law because the legitimacy of the whole society rests on the Constitution and the laws of the country.
Source: GNA