National Commission for Civic Education

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is a government agency in Ghana.^[1] It is the commission responsible for the education of Ghanaians on civic matters.^[2] The commission was established by Act 452 of the Parliament of Ghana in 1993.^[3]

Setup and membership

The running of the commission is done by a seven member committee headed by the commission's chairman, his two deputies and four members. The committee's membership is by appointed by the President of Ghana upon the advice of the Council of State.^[4]

Requirement of membership

Any one of the members of the commission must by law be a Ghanaian who possess all the characteristics that qualifies one to be elected as a Member of Parliament and must also be a non executive in any political party.^[4]

Membership statuses

The members of the National Commission for Civic Education have varying rights depending on the status. The Chairman of the Commission is ranked on the same level with same terms and condition of service as a Justice of the Court of Appeal.^[5] The first Deputy Chairman of the Commission has the same rank of terms and condition of service as a Justice of the Court of Appeal with the second Deputy Chairman of the Commission having the same terms and conditions of service as a Justice of the High Court.^[5] The other four members of the commission have their privileges and terms and conditions of their service approved by the Parliament of Ghana.^[5]

Functions

Per the Constitution of Ghana, the commission is mandated to perform five functions:^[2][6]

1. develop and maintain with the community the sense of the principles and objectives of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana as the fundamental law of Ghana;
2. educate and encourage the public to defend this Constitution at all times, against all forms of abuse and violation;
3. develop policies for the consideration of Government, from time to time, programmes at the national, regional and district levels aimed at realising the objectives of this Constitution;
4. formulate, implement and oversee programmes intended to inculcate in the citizens of Ghana awareness of their civic responsibilities and an appreciation of their rights an obligations as free people;
5. assess for the information of Government, the limitations to the achievement of true democracy arising from the existing inequalities between different strata of the population and make recommendations for re-dressing these inequalities.

Notable works

The work of the NCCE comes to the fore during election years in Ghana when thorough public education is done to sensitize electorates about the voting procedure and their conducts before, during and after presidential and public elections.^[5][7] Prior to the 2012 Ghanaian general elections the commission educated all the electorates on the new biometric voting system that was going to be used.^[8]

Collaborations

The commission collaborates with other bodies to ensure a greater reach of its functions. One of such bodies is the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation GILLBT, with which to translate an abridged version of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana into 30 Ghanaian languages. It also partnered with the International Federation of Women Lawyers to translate the "Rights of Ghanaian Women" into minority languages.^[9]

Past members

• Larry Bimi – Chairman (2009–2011)^[10]

References