Greening Ghana Through Citizenship Week Celebration

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is mandated by the supreme law of Ghana to educate the people on their civic rights and responsibilities. With its offices located in all the districts in the country, the Commission’s staffs are visible throughout the country enlightening the diverse groups of people through tailored public educational programmes in our societies.

One of such phenomenal educational programmes that caught my attention and needs to be applauded is the institution of Citizenship Week Celebration on the 23^rd March, 2014 to replace the constitution week celebration. This activity continues to be a major annual event in the calendar of the Commission. Events earmarking the celebrations include, the reading of civic messages, discussions on centralised thematic areas with the public and planting of trees at beneficiary basic schools. The ultimate aim of these activities was to instill virtues of good citizenship and true meaning of patriotism and the need to understand the cultural attachments to our country, Ghana. The tree planting aspect of the activities during the celebration is what prompted this piece of writing from an environmentalist’s view point.

Ghana’s forest region is reduced from 70 % to 30 % according to the IPDC, (2015). And it is estimated to further reduce to 15 % if drastic measures are not taken to curb the problems of unfriendly environmental behaviours such as illegal logging of trees, ‘galamsey’ mining, and bush burning. These bad environmental behaviours, no doubt, do more harm to us than we can imagine. With possible extinction of our forests in the immediate future if measures are not taken to correct them, we are doomed as a nation. One does not need a Rocket Scientist nor a Scientific Diploma to know the general importance of trees in human life. Among such vital roles that plants play in human life is the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the two entities; human and the environment. Human beings need oxygen released from plants through photosynthesis to breathe whereas the plants need carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to undergo photosynthesis. By wisdom, nature has made the absence of one to affect the existence of the other. So, the relationship between humans and the plants in general can be described as mutualistic association. It is said that when the last tree dies, the last man on earth also dies.

During the citizenship week celebrations, the NCCE in collaboration with the beneficiary schools plant 5 seedlings of economic trees donated by the Forestry Commission of Ghana. About 40 basic schools are selected in each district to participate. This adds up to about Ten thousand schools throughout the country. Assuming all the schools plant 5 seedlings, a total of fifty thousand trees are planted each year. Indeed, with 30% success of germination and establishment of these trees, the NCCE through its citizenship week celebration has greened the country with about fifteen thousand trees. What a phenomenal achievement! Indeed the commission must be applauded for this wonderful feat.

Despite this success, it is disheartening to observe that the tree planting aspect of the celebration has not been observed since 2015. Indeed, this year’s celebrations have just ended without the tree planting activity and the reasons are yet to be ascertained at the time of writing this piece. In this regard, I call for a better collaboration between the commission and the forestry commission and all other stakeholders including NGOs, donor agencies, and private companies among others who could help revisit this all important activity and make it sustainable.

I strongly believe that the NCCE as mandated by the constitution is doing marvellously well in fulfilling its obligations and must be commended in educating the populace about their civic rights and responsibilities and also joining hands in greening our beloved country, Ghana.

Long live Ghana, long Live NCCE.
By: Abubakar Muhammed Charmawla
Email: Bakrmawla@gmail.com