Show interest in governance of local communities

A DEPUTY Chairman of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mrs Augustina Akosua Akumanya, has stated that it is the responsibility of citizens to be interested in the governance of the communities in which they live.
She said at the individual level, all citizens belonged to communities and therefore, each had a role to play in the development of such areas as well as of the nation in general.
Mrs Akumanya said this at the 9th Greater Accra Regional Inter-Senior High Schools Constitution Game Competition held at Ngleshie Amanfrom Senior High School in the Ga South Municipality.
The event, which is organised by the NCCE on regular basis, has the objective to instil in the youth the habit of studying the Constitution through the Constitution Game. The theme for the event was: “Sharpening the Democratic Skills of the Youth Through the Ghana Constitution Game”.
Out of the 10 schools that took part in the competition, Ada Senior High School emerged the overall winner followed by St John’s Grammer and Christian Methodist Senior High Schools in that order.
In her address, Mrs Akumanya, who is also in charge of Finance and Administration, urged the educated in society to help disseminate the appropriate information to others who were not fortunate enough to be educated.
She said many a time, the illiterate in the various communities looked up to the literate for the right information adding that “as the educated ones in society it is part of your responsibility to disseminate information to your locals who may be illiterate and therefore look up to you for information”.
She took the opportunity to read the first stanza of the national anthem as well as the duties of a citizen as contained in the Constitution to remind the audience of their individual rights and responsibilities.
She also advised the youth to do away with tribalism, political intolerance, corruption as well as alcohol and drug abuse.
For her part, the Greater Accra Regional Director of the NCCE, Mrs Joyce B. Afutu, said the commission had endeavoured to keep the Constitution Game running so long as Ghanaians had accepted the path of democracy and constitutional rule as the only legitimate means of achieving development.
She pointed out that by playing the game, the youth became more knowledgeable and better-informed about the significance of the Constitution as the fundamental law of the land where democratic culture of rule of law, transparency, tolerance, freedom of expression and other civic virtues thrived.
Mrs Afutu pointed out that through the efforts of the NCCE, civic society groups and other organisations, the Constitution was no longer the preserve for the few elite class, but had pervaded every nook and cranny of society and had largely been appreciated by all civic-minded Ghanaians.
She maintained that the youth of today as leaders of tomorrow, needed to be equipped with the civic virtues of democracy and the dynamics of transparent and an all inclusive political leadership.
She said the essence of the Constitution game was not necessarily about winning a contest or the perceived funfair, but it was more about exposing the youth to the tenets of the Constitution and its democratic values.