The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has advised Ghanaians to resolve not to entertain coup plotters who seek shortcut to power.
According to the President, such people only act in their parochial and selfish interests, with no respect for the citizens.
He has instead urged Ghanaians to renew their trust in democracy and bear in mind at all times the often cited statement that “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”
“I say so because there are some who, for their own parochial and selfish interests, would want to see a return to the dark days of authoritarian rule simply because, with no respect for the Ghanaian people, they are either unwilling to subject themselves or their vision to the open scrutiny of the Ghanaian people, or because they know they will be rejected by the Ghanaian people and thus, seek a shortcut to office and power. Let us strengthen our resolve to resist such persons for our own common good,” he said.
DEMOCRCY
President Akufo-Addo was addressing the nation yesterday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the holding of the referendum that ushered in the 1992 Constitution. He said that democracy, under the 4th Republic, has been good for Ghana.
He explained that democracy has banished the spectre of instability that had disfigured much of Ghana’s early existence.
President Akufo-Addo, who addressed the nation from Jubilee House, noted that, prior to 1992, Ghana had sampled almost every form of governance known to man.
The President remarked that the nation experienced from these events a weakening of the sense of self-confidence and progress of Ghanaians.
This, he added, was evidenced by the fact that components of the Human Development Index, i.e., life expectancy rates, access to education, and per capita income indicators, at the time, were not commensurate with the country’s vast potential.
HISTORY
With Ghanaians expressing widespread will to have the decade-long ban imposed on party political activities lifted, the PNDC military government, led by Flt Lt J.J. Rawlings, set up the National Consultative Assembly in May 1991 and tasked the body to prepare a draft Constitution for the country.
Three million four hundred and eight thousand, one hundred and nineteen (3,408,119) Ghanaians voted “Yes” in the referendum, representing 92.59% of the vote, to return the nation to democratic rule, as opposed to two hundred and seventy-two thousand, eight hundred and fifty-five (272,855) voting “No”, representing 7.41%.
The Constitution, overwhelmingly approved in the referendum, set up a liberal, democratic state, founded on the separation of powers, with exclusive power in the Judiciary to superintend and enforce the Constitution and protect the fundamental human rights of the citizenry. The coming into effect of the 1992 Constitution was promulgated with immense popular backing, and, on January 7, 1993, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings, Chairman of the erstwhile PNDC, was sworn into office as the 1st President of the 4thRepublic.
REPEAL OF ARTICLE 55
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo assured the nation that he will continue to work for an extensive national consensus to be reached on the ramifications of Article 55 (3) of the Constitution, which currently bars political parties from involvement in district assembly elections and local government.
He stated that the attempt he made in 2019 to repeal said provision was aborted because of the lack of a broad national consensus when the opposition NDC signalled its inability to back the repeal.
However, he indicated that it continues to be his view that the repeal or modification of an entrenched clause of the Constitution should attract widespread support to make it acceptable and healthy for the body politic.
He announced that “at any point during my remaining tenure of office as President of the Republic, the matter will be brought back again to the front burner of our public discourse for the necessary action. I am hoping that, after completing the necessary consultations, I will, shortly, be in a position to announce a way forward on this important matter.”
