The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has been spearheading the celebration of Constitution Week since its introduction in 2001.
The Commission has since been hammering at various forums that the celebration seeks to make the 1992 Constitution a living document embossed on the minds and hearts of Ghanaians for the deepening of democracy and good governance.
It then urges all Ghanaians to defend the 1992 Constitution to prevent any form of destabilisation of the political establishment.
For instance, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in May 2018, the NCCE expressed the belief that in spite of the praise the country had been receiving for continuously embracing democratic rule since January 7, 1993, the democracy was still fragile and so there was the need for Ghanaians to constantly to "be on guard against any overthrow or attempted overthrow of government".
The Commission said it was the responsibility of every Ghanaian not only to defend any attempt to overthrow democratically-elected governments but also guard against any infringement of fundamental human rights of any individual or group of people, especially the vulnerable group.
Every year, the NCCE organises events and chooses themes it thinks are relevant for the need to defend the country's constitution.
This year's Constitution Week celebration has the theme "30 years of Consolidating Constitutional Democracy: Building National Cohesion through Civic Education and Participation in Local Governance."
The NCCE has promised to organise series of engagements to sensitise the citizenry to the relevance of the 1992 Constitution as a pillar on which the country's democracy hinges and acts that can help consolidate democracy in the country.
Obviously as part of its activities to make this year's celebration one of a difference, the NCCE has resurrected the conversation on making the District Assembly Elections partisan.
It has expressed the belief that this would increase voter turnout in the district level elections.
Ordinarily, we would have opposed such a proposal because the district assembly elections are meant to elect community members who have shown commitment to developing their electoral areas and the district at large.
It was expected that such persons would be identified by community members and honoured with their election to formalise their love for their communities.
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However, at a point, political parties infiltrated and monitised the system to abuse it and defeat the noble objectives associated with it.
Today, we support the NCCE proposal because it is an open secret that members of the District Assemblies have been elected on partisan lines and there is no way that trend can be killed.
Thus, it must be formalised for party members and supporters to show interest similar to that in both parliamentary and presidential elections.
The political establishment must have the political courage to do this because the current situation that the district level elections are non-partisan is just on paper because in practical terms they are partisan and the political leaders know this.
This current nature of district assembly elections is a destablisation of the the Constitution in disguise and the only way to legitimise it is to reform the relevant articles in the Constitution and the Local Government Act and this must not be delayed.
