NCCE urges Ghana Armed Forces to uphold and defend the Constitution despite its lapses, “remain loyal to and uphold the constitution as it had done over the past three decades, to deepen the country's democracy and maintain its enviable peace and stability,” said Mr Samuel Asare Akuamoah, a Deputy Chairman of the Commission in charge of Operations, during his address to some officers and men of the GAF in Accra, as part of activities to commemorate this year's Constitution Week.
The week-long celebration, with the theme “Thirty Years of Consolidating Democracy: Building National Cohesion through Civic Education and Participation in Local Governance,” is meant to create and sustain awareness of the principles and objectives of the 1992 Constitution to deepen and sustain Ghana's democracy, sensitise Ghanaians on the need for national unity and peaceful co-existence, and inculcate into the citizens the spirit of patriotism.
Mr Akuamoah praised the armed forces for maintaining constitutional rule for the past three decades despite the 1992 constitution's failings, stating “You either improve on it or you maintain it because your effort has helped us. Nobody has been able to overthrow any civilian regime and you have professionally ‘subordinated' yourself to the civilian authorities, so, you deserve our commendation, and everybody living in Ghana and elsewhere must doff off our hat for you for this enviable feat.”
Mr Akuamoah charged the GAF to continue to protect the country from external threats, especially with the recent activities of violent extremists within the Sahel region, “Let no one distract you from performing this function which you have performed so ably.”
Brigadier-General Michael Opoku, Director General, Human Resource, GAF, expressed the military's happiness to live in this constitutional era, saying “We are happy to be guided by rules and regulations, the laws of the country because we don't want to live in what Thomas Hobbes describes as the State of Nature, where life is brutish, short and nasty.”
However, he bemoaned the continuous decline in military-civilian relations and implored the NCCE and other relevant state agencies to intensify education on military-civilian relations to foster peace and harmony.
Mr Victor Brobbey, a Deputy Chairperson in charge of Administration and Finance at the NCCE, also cautioned the media on the need for circumspection when reporting on matters of violence involving military personnel and civilians to ensure the harmonious coexistence of the two sides.
