Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at the event.
Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has charged the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to take up the challenge of leading the restoration of lost values of the country.
He said until the NCCE leads the crusade, as per its mandate, of bringing back the values of patriotism, respect, truth, humility, decency, punctuality, courtesey, law abiding, integrity and equality, Ghana will not be able to attain its full development potential.
“Ghanaians are looking up to the NCCE to lead the challenge of restoring good values in our society,” he said.
The Vice president was speaking at the National Dialogue organized by the NCCE themed, ‘Restoring the Ghanaian Identity: Our Values’ Our Passion.”
The event brought together four eminent Ghanaians; Professor of Law, Justice V.C.R. A. C Crabbe, renowned educationist, Professor Steven Adei, celebrated writer, Professor Ama Atta Aidoo and Senior Statesman, Mr. K B Asante to dialogue on issues concerning the falling standards of national values.
Dr. Bawumia, speaking as the special guest began his presentation with great admiration for the panelists for upholding the values upon which Ghana’s nationhood was founded.
He said having clear guidance and good values are social prerequisites for building and developing any nation adding that no country in the world has achieved greatness without the people holding a common principle based on good values.
The Vice President however agreed, to a large extent, that the values upon which the nationhood of Ghana was founded have diminished over time hence the need for restoration of those values.
“We are at a point in our country where we have witnessed the normalization of negative traits like extreme corruption, greed, dishonesty, violent crime, indiscipline, disrespect and selfishness in everyday life,” he said.
He thus assured of government’s commitment in doing its bit to support the NCCE in fulfilling it constitutional mandate.
“Our government understands the crucial role of the NCCE in making sure all of us commit to this values and work as one people for the development of the country, to that extent, this year government has increased the allocation to the NCCE to more than double what the institution has been receiving,” he added. “For the first time in many years NCCE has also received an allocation for capital expenditure to support their work.”
He therefore reaffirmed his confidence in the NCCE to live up to its mandate of enhancing the values among citizens.
“The president is committed to reinvigorating patriotism and nationalism among Ghanaians and leading us to rebuild our country on the right values which are important to forging our nation forward and therefore we must all take it upon ourselves to incorporate this in our lives,” the Vice president said.
Ms. Josphine Nkrumah, Chairperson of NCCE, in her welcome address said the commission shares the concern of many Ghanaians regarding the falling values adding that despite the situation, the commission believes in a Ghana where citizens have respect for rule of law and confidence in institutions.
“To make this possibility, a reality, we must systematically, purposefully and deliberately work to imbibe or reignite these values particularly in the youth,” she said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri & Abigail Owiredu Boateng