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Ghanaians have responsibility to uphold 1992 Constitution – NCCE boss

The National Commis­sion for Civic Education (NCCE) has implored Ghanaians to respect and uphold the 1992 Constitution until such a time that the needed amend­ments are made to it.

It says, debates on review­ing aspects of the Constitution should not lead to denigrating or undermining it, as it remained the fundamental law of the land.

“The NCCE calls on Gha­naians to continue to uphold the 1992 Constitution as the fundamental law of Ghana, until any amendment are made where necessary.

The 1992 Constitution is the fundamental law of the land and until the needed reforms are re­alised, it is imperative on the part of every citizen to recognise and fulfil the rights and responsibilities therein to promote constitution­alism.”

The Chairperson of the NCCE, Ms Kathleen Addy made the appeal at a news conference in Accra yesterday to commemorate this year’s Constitution Day which also marks 30 years of constitu­tional rule in Ghana.

The event which as well marked 30 years of the establish­ment of the NCCE was on the theme; “30 years of consolidating Constitutional democracy: Build­ing National Cohesion through civic education and participation in local governance.”

Ms Addy noted that while concerns for an amendment of the Constitution were apprecia­ble, greater efforts must be made towards consolidating the gains made and sustaining Ghana’s democracy.

She enumerated threats facing the country’s democracy including monetisation of politics, terror­ism, wanton destruction of the environment especially through activities like “galamsey”, econom­ic hardships and loss of confi­dence in state institutions.

“Democracy is the most diffi­cult form of governance to sustain but where citizens actively partic­ipate in the process, provides the best chance to build a just society.

An indolent, disengaged citi­zenry cannot sustain democracy and to maintain and improve on what we have, all citizens must fully engage at all times,” she stressed.

The Chairperson urged to play their role to sustain the peace and promote national cohesion.

Scores of Ghanaians continue to push for an amendment of Ghana’s Constitution claiming it as ‘problematic’ to sustain the country’s democracy.

Convener of the #FixThe­Country movement, Oliver Mawuse Barker-Vormawor, leading protesters on Saturday to demand for promulgation of a Constitution argued that the cur­rent one favoured the upper class and fewer majority in the country as opposed to the vulnerable in society.

On April 28, 1992, Ghana in a referendum approved a new con­stitution, ushering in the Fourth Republican dispensation.

More than 3.4 million peo­ple voted in favour of the new constitution, representing 92.59 per cent of those who took part in the referendum, with 272,855 people, representing 7.41 per cent of the persons, voting against the constitutional rule.

The Constitution of the Fourth Republic set up the institu­tions of a liberal democratic state, operating based on the separation of powers, with express guaran­tees of fundamental human rights.

Since the fourth Republic, Parliament has enacted over 1000 Bills including the Right to Infor­mation Act, National Identifica­tion Authority Act, Interpretation Act, Food and Drugs Act, the Private Members Bill of 2020 just to mention a few and the repealing of others such as the Criminal Libel law.

BY ABIGAIL ANNOH

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