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ADDRESS
BY NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
OF THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY, AT SIGNING OF THE ACCRA PEACE
ACCORD, AT THE MOVENPICK HOTEL
Press Release
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016
Like the vast
majority Ghanaians, I continue to believe in democracy as
the best system of government under which this nation, under
God, should be developed. I have spent nearly four decades
of my life standing shoulder to shoulder with the people of
Ghana in advancing the cause of democracy. I want to be
President of a united country that is at peace with itself.
Over the course of the last 24 months, the New Patriotic
Party has fashioned out a comprehensive programme which we
believe will lead to a rapid development of Ghana, and a
significant improvement in the standards of living of her
people. We want to win a fair and free election, and gain a
true mandate from the people of Ghana to implement our
programmes. We will need the support and energies of all
citizens to govern if, God willing, we are given the mandate
on December 7.
The strength of any democracy is very
much determined by the credibility of its electoral system.
It is in our collective interest that we ensure that the
rules and regulations for the conduct of elections are fair
and transparent, and that we all develop respect for them.
Every sector must play its part in delivering a free and
fair election—the political parties, the Electoral
Commission, the government, the security agencies and the
citizenry as a whole. There should be no lingering questions
about the legitimacy of an election, and the winning
candidate at the end of the process should receive the
unalloyed support of all. That is how we can strengthen our
democracy and the peace and stability of our nation.
I can speak for the NPP and state without any equivocation
that we will not do anything to endanger the peace of the
nation in any way during these elections. It is in our
interest that the elections come off peacefully and the
outcome is credible.
On my part, I have demonstrated
my commitment to maintaining the peace of our country on
several occasions. In 2008, I accepted the results of a
closely fought election, which was won by the slimmest of
margins, some 40,000 votes, without asking for a recount.
Again, in the disputed elections of 2012, I protested the
outcome in the highest Court of the land, and after
proceedings that lasted eight months, Ghana came out with
her democratic credentials enhanced.
We proved to
the world that we were willing and able to submerge our
individual and partisan preferences for the common good. We
demonstrated clearly that it was not the ambitions of
Akufo-Addo, nor the fortunes of the NPP, that we sought to
promote. The stability and progress of Ghana, and the
enhancement of her democracy were the paramount
considerations that guided our every action in those
difficult days.
I believe the reason the atmosphere
still seems clouded with anxiety and there are increasingly
loud calls for peace is because the government has not tried
to build any confidence measures to assure the citizens that
the security agencies have a free hand to do their work in
an impartial manner.
The rapid apprehension and
prosecution of members of the ruling party who have been
responsible for the recent violence against members of the
NPP in Asutifi South, a constituency represented in
Parliament by a Cabinet Minister, will be one such measure.
Likewise in Odododiodioo and Asunafo South, where violence
is being perpetrated on a daily basis against citizens and
members of the NPP by operatives of the ruling party.
Many people do not feel that the security agencies are
currently party colour blind in performing their duties.
This fuels rumours and generates anxiety. The government has
a responsibility to move beyond the rhetoric of calling for
peace and demonstrate a commitment to ensuring that state
institutions discharge their duties professionally and with
integrity.
We on our part have no hesitation in
signing up to a commitment to peace. I pledge on behalf of
the NPP and on my own behalf that we shall accept the
verdict of the people, in the context of a free, fair and
transparent process, and we pray that Ghana retains its
position as the shining example in Africa of a peaceful,
democratic nation.
We are grateful for the interest
the international community is showing in our democratic
process and welcome particularly the presence at this
ceremony of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president
of the Republic of Liberia and current chair of ECOWAS,
former President of the Republic of South Africa and head of
the Commonwealth Observer Mission, Thabo Mbeki, our
compatriot, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, UN Secretary General’s
Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, and
Madame Josephine Ojiambo, Deputy Commonwealth
Secretary-General. I use this occasion also to thank
publicly UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, and US Secretary
of State, John Kerry, for the personal interest they have
manifested directly to me in the last few days in Ghana’s
democratic consolidation, peace and stability.
God
bless us all and God bless Ghana and Mother Africa.
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