President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said majority of Ghanaians are committed to the country’s democratic values and institutions.
He urged the citizens to help the government to protect the peace and stability of the country at all times.
Speaking at the 65th Independence Day celebration in Cape Coast on Sunday (6 March), Akufo-Addo said “Let us guard jealously the peace and stability we are enjoying. There are some restless spirits amongst us who, seeking to exploit the current difficulties confronting the nation, claim to have lost confidence in our democratic system.”
“Either the absence of faith in the prospect of democratic alternative to the current government or their impatience to wield executive authority are the factors driving their appetite for the short cut of military intervention.
“Whatever be the case, they seem ready to jeopardise the hard won reputation of our country as beacon of democracy and stability in Africa and indeed, in the world, in order to gratify their personal ambition, ambitions which show little or no respect for the capacity of the Ghanaian people to change when necessary their government peacefully through the ballot box, something we have done on three separate occasions in the 29-year life of the fourth republic,” he said.
Akufo-Addo added, “The great majority of us who are committed to democratic values and institutions will continue to resist the claims of these adventurers and deploy all legitimate means in our democracy to maintain our free open system of governance which has respect for human rights, the rule of law and the principles of democratic accountability.”
“Pacesetter”
The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley who was the special guest of honour also used the occasion to extol Ghana’s democratic credential.
Mottley said Ghana led the way by attaining independence from the British colonial masters in 1957 and called for the protection of the principles of democracy as enshrined in the constitution.
“We have to work together in solidarity and fight the battles of our day, challenges that there appears to be, for whether it is the climate crisis that affects us or whether it is the spirit of war raising its head yet again or whether it is the obsession by some who have not been elected to take power from those who are duly elected,” she said.
Mottley added, “We have a duty to stand tall and protect the principles of democracy the principles that are anchored in the constitution and the principles that we are committed in the United Nations Charter.”
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