The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), in collaboration with the Africa Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), has engaged citizens on issues concerning political and economic transformation in the country.

The engagement, under the Ghana Compact programme, was to seek the views of stakeholders on identified concerns that have impeded the country’s political and economic transformation over the years.

The three-day forum was held in Tamale and attended by private businesses, youth, and diverse stakeholders from the Northern, Savannah, and Upper East Regions. Views collated from the citizens’ engagement will be incorporated into a compact document, to be debated in June this year.

Participants were organised into groups to offer perspectives on specified thematic areas, contributing to the development of the compact document. They raised many concerns about improving the country’s political economy, among which was the need to create an enabling environment for private individuals. They also called for collaboration towards improved working conditions for workers in the country.

Charles Boateng, Business Transform Manager, ACET, speaking during the event, said Compact Ghana was about working with the concerns of citizens that would bind as a social contract for political parties to act on. He said the compact document was aimed at helping structure private sector development, health, gender, climate change, as well as the fiscal aspects of the economy for the benefit of Ghanaians.

He noted that institutions that mattered in Ghana’s development were engaged in seven key areas to develop the compact document for deliberation.

He said: “ACET does not represent any political party. It is an independent institution that is there for the good of this country by playing the middle role between citizens and politicians.” The compact document aimed to tackle the foundational issues hindering Ghana’s political and economic progress.

Lucille Hewlett Annan, Commission Secretary, NCCE, said as part of the Commission’s broad mandate, it partnered with ACET to bring citizens together to deliberate on issues that were pertinent to people in each geographical area. She said: “The main agenda is to have a social contract where citizens can hold duty-bearers accountable.”

Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed, Northern Regional Director of NCCE, said the opinions of grassroots citizens were essential in carving strategies for growth, adding their experiences were more inclusive than those of experts and research findings.