The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has criticized the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) for failing to adequately carry out its mandate of educating the public.
According to a senior fellow at the IEA, Professor Atsu Aryee, institutions, particularly the NCCE has not done enough to ensure that people are well informed of policies and choices available to them.
[contextly_sidebar id=”q0J1wnkS78S7TlcvQs2zd6tTmPa3VEqU”]He admitted that although the Commission’s financial issues might affect their operations, the entire structure and strategies adopted by the NCCE needed to be reworked.
“We have several institutions, the key is the National Commission on Civic Education. That’s its main responsibility but it looks as if that institution is really dormant,” Professor Atsu Aryee said at the IEA’s launch of its Survey Findings on the most important challenges surrounding Ghanaians today.
“When you go back to them, they say they don’t have resources but I think even in terms of the turnover of the headship of the institutions is problematic.”
According to him, the NCCE needs to adopt a more coordinated approach towards informing the public about the issues that concern them.
He believes the NCCE’s current strategy is disjointed and that in order for the country to progress that approach needs to change.
“We always talk about public education but is it coordinated. How logical is it? How sequential is it? And how relevant is it? I always say that public education in Ghana has been sporadic. We have not had a consistent, well laid down approach to public education; whether it’s for district elections or for voter registration or verification.
I think to move the country forward, there must be a consistent laid out strategy to deal with issues surrounding public education. I think it’s key.”
Focus on your mandate
This is not the first time the NCCE has faced criticism from the IEA for failing to educate the public adequately on issues.
The Institute had earlier taken on the NCCE after the Commission had revealed that it intended to organise presidential and parliamentary debates ahead of the elections
But according to the IEA’s Executive Director, if the NCCE truly had the interest of the country at heart, they would be focusing on public education from now till the polls, instead of attempting to organize nationwide parliamentary debates.
Mrs. Jean Mensah said at the time, “The NCCE should be educating voters on how to vote and reduce the number of rejected ballots… My greatest concern will be to ask them to educate voters on how to vote, to ensure that they are not disenfranchised.”
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana