The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has affirmed its commitment to remain an independent constitutional body and condemned attempts by some political elements to draw the commission into partisan brawls.

Mrs Joyce Afutu, the NCCE Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the Commission would not be detracted from its core mandate to develop and maintain the principles and objectives of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana as the fundamental law of the land.

“We are mandated to educate and encourage the public to defend the Constitution at all times against all forms of abuse and violation; develop policies for the consideration of Government from time to time, and come up with programmes at the national, regional and district levels aimed at realising the objectives of this Constitution,” she said.

The NCCE would continue to formulate, implement and oversee programmes intended to inculcate in the citizens of Ghana awareness of their civic responsibilities and an appreciation of their rights and obligations as free people, she said.

Mrs Afutu condemned recent media and political attacks on the Commission stressing that the NCCE had no affiliation with any political party but had a working relationship with all democratic institutions including political parties, civil society organisations and the media.

“We would continue to work to deepen the frontiers of democratic tenets to ensure that the limitations to the achievement of true democracy arising from the existing inequalities between different strata of the population are removed and make recommendations for re-dressing these inequalities,” she said.

Mrs Afutu refuted allegations that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had rebranded 50 Mahindra NCCE vehicles for its campaign purposes.

“The NCCE wishes to state and inform the public that the said vehicles, alleged to have been rebranded to support NDC’s campaign ahead of the November elections, do not belong to the NCCE.

“The NCCE has no connection to the said vehicles. We urge the media and all political parties to desist from drawing the NCCE into any partisan brawls,” Mrs Afutu said.