Democracy will win in spite of killings, hatred – Prez Mahama

Isaac Yeboah Politics Sep - 23 - 2013 , 20:20

President John Dramani Mahama has stated that the recent killings in Kenya, Mali and Somalia were caused by people who did not believe in the tenets and vision of democracy.

He said those people saw democracy, which had the vision of social justice, religious and ethnic tolerance, as a threat.

President Mahama made the remarks in his speech at the World Leaders Forum at the Columbia University Monday.

President Mahama said the vision of democracy covered access to education, healthcare, housing and sanitary conditions.

"When I speak of the vision, I speak of social justice. I speak of equality. I speak of religious and ethnic tolerance. I speak of respect for the dignity of the human spirit. These are the ideals that come together to form the vision. And that vision is what fuels democracy.

"As more and more countries on the continent strengthened their democracies through the rule of law—something both Ghana and Kenya recently did with the Supreme Court challenges to the results of our respective elections—the closer we get to the vision, and to the existence of that world in which so many have dared to believe,” he said.

President Mahama said the world we lived in today, with its laptops, smartphones and social media, was dramatically different from the world that existed in the late 1950s and 1960s.

However, he said, the principles for which people fought remained the same.

"What also remains the same, is the hatred, greed, oppression, and the presence of individuals and groups who feel that their way is the only way.

"For these individuals and groups, the prospect of peace undermines their plans for dictatorship. Empowered people are difficult to oppress. Educated people are aware of their rights. People whose only hunger is for the ability to rise to their highest potential will take a stand for justice and freedom," he said.

The President stressed that freedom was not given freely. It is not given at all. It must be won. It must be claimed, and the price of the ticket is steep.

As a leader, he said, it was his conviction that the policies that governments promoted must be for the betterment of the lives of people.

"The legislation that is enacted must be for their protection. The democracies that are being built, must shelter the freedom for which we are fighting. And I know that despite the setbacks, despite the senseless violence, this is a struggle that will result in victory; so we must hang on," he said.

The President said for far too often, democracy in Africa was defined simply by the absence of dictatorship rather than by the presence of the vision that fuelled it, and the willingness of individuals to take a stand in defence of that vision, regardless of the consequences.

For instance, he said, in 1957 when Ghana became the first sub-Saharan nation in Africa to gain its independence, it spearheaded a revolution on the continent.

"Country after country followed, each one claiming its liberation from colonial rule. It was a revolution that was led by the people, by visionaries, men and women who believed that the future they saw for their country was possible. It was a goal well worth fighting for, a destination well worth marching toward, a dream for which they would sooner die than have deferred," he said.

President Mahama said the politicians of that era, who were destined to shape a new world, paid a huge price for their struggle.

For instance, he said, Nelson Mandela was jailed, as was Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Wole Soyinka and Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

"There were many who lost days, months and years of their lives in prison. There were also many who lost their lives entirely. Christopher Okigbo was killed, as was Patrice Lumumba, Steve Biko, Sylvanus Olympio, and Eduardo Mondlane. Untold numbers of others fled into exile," he said.

The President said for far too often, the collective battle for independence in Africa was mistaken for the struggle for freedom.

However, he said, the independence of a nation did not guarantee the freedom of its people, stressing the need for Africa to overcome that hurdle.

President Mahama referred to Dr Kwame Nkrumah's speech just minutes after Ghana became an independent nation in which he said, “The liberation of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa,” saying nine years later, in 1966, Dr. Nkrumah’s government was overthrown in a coup d’état, and indicated that the years following that coup were turbulent ones for Ghana, characterised by numerous regime changes.

President Mahama said during those years of turbulence, Professor Kofi Awoonor, like so many artisans of his day, became a political activist. He would go on to serve as the country’s ambassador to Brazil and to Cuba, as an envoy to the United Nations, and as Chairman of the Council of State.

But before any of that, in 1976, Prof Awoonor served a ten-month prison sentence after being wrongfully accused and convicted of allegedly plotting a coup.

President Mahama expressed worry that for far too often, when Africa’s resources were listed, the most important one - human resource - was omitted.

He indicated that Africa’s greatest resource was its people, "and we cannot afford to continue overlooking this basic truth."

Touching on Africa's economy, President Mahama said the debt trap and triple-digit inflation associated with Africa of the early 1980s and 90s had disappeared.

"Indeed many countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Namibia have attained single digit inflation, with prospects for further decline in those rates.

"In a recent report, the World Bank noted that economic growth in Africa for the first decade of the 21st century has averaged 4.7 percent, as against 2.5 percent for the global economy in 2012," he said.

For instance, President Mahama said a few years ago Ghana was among one of the most economically challenged on the continent.

He said in the last couple of years Ghana had posted some of the highest GDP growth rates in the world, and remained one of the world’s fifteen fastest growing economies.

"At the present rate, Africa’s cumulative GDP is expected to rise from 1.5 trillion to 3 trillion by 2020. This means the potential for job creation, housing, quality education, improved healthcare, modern transportation networks, and opportunities for quality livelihoods, is limitless," he said.