I’ll return Ghana to path of progress — Nana Akufo-Addo

The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has stated that if he is given the mandate, he will return the country onto the path of progress and prosperity.

“I believe I can, in all humility, provide, with God’s guidance and the assistance of a capable team, the leadership that is needed to return Ghana onto the path of progress and prosperity when the Ghanaian people entrust me with their mandate. I am appealing to Ghanaians to repose their confidence in me in December and together we shall make the Black Star of Africa rise and shine again,” he declared in a statement to mark the third anniversary of the 2012 Supreme Court presidential election petition.

3rd Anniversary

Today, August 29, 2013, is exactly three years since the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land, delivered a 5-4 majority judgement that brought an end to the 2012 election petition that the Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, then National Chairman of the NPP; Mahamudu Bawumia, the running mate, and Nana Akufo-Addo, filed in the court, challenging the validity of the results of the 2012 presidential election. The majority decision rejected the challenge by the trio. 

According to the standard bearer of the dominant opposition party, after proceedings that lasted eight months, Ghana came out with its 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 ambition of Akufo-Addo or the fortunes of the NPP that we sought to promote. The stability and progress of Ghana and the enhancement of its democracy were the paramount considerations that guided our every action in those difficult days,” he said in the statement.

On the day the judgement was delivered, Nana Akufo-Addo recalled that “everything in my bones, in the way I was brought up and in how I have conducted my life thus far, made it imperative that I accept a decision of the highest court of our land, even though I might disagree with it. I thank the Lord that He gave me that inner strength to display the leadership when required’’. 

In his view, the message from the majority was clear, and to the effect that regardless of the infraction or irregularities that might happen on Election Day, what happened at the polling station is sacred and results declared there will not be reversed and stressed that the NPP had taken that message at heart.

He, however, pointed out that the sanctity of the ballot was and must be supreme going forward.

“It is the expression of preference involved in the casting of the ballot that is sacred – the rest of the activities are, at best, administrative exercises. The count, the collation, the transmission and the declaration of results cannot and should not be more important than the sacred, God-given right of a citizen expressing his or her choice represented by the casting of his or her ballot,” he stated.

He further said the strength of any democracy was very much determined by the credibility of its electoral system, and that it was in the collective interest that Ghanaians ensure that the rules and regulations for the conduct of elections were fair and transparent, and that all develop respect for them. 

No lingering questions

“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,” he articulated in the statement.

With three months to the holding of the December 2016 elections, Nana Akufo-Addo indicated that the economy was in crisis, businesses were collapsing, the cost of living was unbearably high for the ordinary person and the youth remained without employment.

He also said children were failing their examinations, cash and carry was effectively back in the hospitals and the country was experiencing strikes all over. 

“God did not put us on this rich land to be poor. It is bad leadership that makes us poor,” he concluded, and assured the people of Ghana that given the opportunity, he would return the country onto the path of progress and prosperity.