Samuel Asare Akuamoah
The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has called on the political parties involved in the election petition whose verdict was delivered recently “to uphold the Rule of Law and accept the verdict to foster national unity and peaceful coexistence.”
In a statement signed by Samuel Asare Akuamoah, the Commission described the ruling of the Supreme Court “as another milestone in the annals of Ghana’s history and a further test of our constitutional democracy.”
With the verdict, the Commission noted that “Ghana has won and we should work together to build the nation.”
Continuing, it stated that, “the Commission commends the Petitioner and his team, for upholding the Rule of Law by using the legal system to seek redress to ascertain whether or not the second respondent met Article 63 (3) of the 1992 Constitution threshold of more than 50 per cent of the total valid votes cast in the December 7, 2020 Presidential Election.”
The NCCE has urged all political parties, particularly the leadership of both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to call their members and supporters to desist from violent acts.
Their communicators, the Commission went on, “must be decorous and considerate in their utterances and remarks about the judgment in order not to denigrate the Courts and debase the Judiciary.”
The Commission added, “In as much as the parties may agree or disagree with the judgment, as a country committed to the Rule of Law and Constitutionalism, we have a duty to preserve the sanctity of our Courts and be moderate in our comments on the issues.” The media is a crucial partner that has so far helped the Ghanaian public follow the court proceedings through live feed, the Commission observed, and appealed to practitioners not to lower the bar in discussing the issues.
In line with NCCE’s theme for the year: “We Are One: Ghana First”, the Commission encouraged Ghanaians to “always consider Ghana first in their engagements, endeavours, discourses and even in differences.”
Continuing, it stated that “even as we embrace peace and unity to ensure cohesion after the verdict, we have to remind ourselves of the need to work together to promote the growth and stability of our democracy. Ghana belongs to every Ghanaian, and we all have a responsibility to not just respect the Rule of Law, but to exemplify traits of oneness as a country.”
The interest of individuals and parties should not be put over the country’s, the NCCE stated.
By A.R. Gomda