The National Commission for Civic Education is a government agency in Ghana. It is the commission responsible for the education of Ghanaians on civic matters. The commission was established by Act 452 of the Parliament of Ghana in 1993.
Setup and membership
The commission is run by a seven-member committee headed by the commission's chairman, two deputies and four members. The committee's membership is through appointment by the President of Ghana upon the advice of the Council of State.
Requirement of membership
Any one of the members of the commission must by law be a Ghanaian who possesses 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.
Membership statuses
The members of the National Commission for Civic Education have varying rights depending on their status. "The Chairman of the Commission shall enjoy the same terms and conditions of service as a Justice of the Court of Appeal, and a Deputy Chairman of the Commission shall enjoy the same terms and conditions of service as a Justice of the High Court" The other four members of the commission have their privileges and terms and conditions of their service approved by the Parliament of Ghana.
Functions
Per the Constitution of Ghana, the commission is mandated to perform five functions:
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;
educate and encourage the public to defend this Constitution at all times, against all forms of abuse and violation;
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;
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;
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. 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.
