Peace certain after Dec. polls – Akufo-Addo assures Mahama

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has once again assured the nation that the peace and stability the country is enjoying will be maintained before, during and after the December 7 polls.

He said he was confident that the good sense of Ghanaians, which has preserved the peace and stability of the Fourth Republic for the last 27 years, would prevail, and that Ghanaians would not permit any desperate loser to plunge the country into chaos.

Addressing the 20th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the auditorium of the Ho Technical University (HTU) in the Volta Region, the President said: “I think that it is important for the credibility of our national public discourse that public persons are seen to be consistent in their views and advocacy.”

He was responding to recent assertions by former President John Dramani Mahama to the effect that if the Electoral Commission (EC) went ahead with the compilation of a new biometric voters register and did not listen to the views of the opposition, then the EC would bear the consequences of any conflict, should it ever arise.

But in a sharp rebuttal, President Akufo-Addo said former President Mahama’s inconsistency was a matter for him (Mahama) and his conscience.

“But I want to assure him that there will be no strife; there will be no conflict after the December 7 general election. The good sense of the Ghanaian people, which has preserved the peace and stability of the Fourth Republic for the last 27 years, will continue to prevail, and they will not permit any poor, desperate loser to plunge this country into chaos. Ghana is bigger than the ambitions of any of us,” he said.

Recount

“It cannot be right that when you are President, you say one thing, and when you become the leader of the opposition, you say another,” the President added.

He recounted how, when the NPP was in opposition and when agitations over the credibility of the current electoral register took place, “some among us went on lawful, peaceful demonstrations, and some also went to court to ventilate their grievance and seek redress. In other words, we took the lawful routes, the constitutionally sanctioned routes”.

According to President Akufo-Addo, at that time, the President of the Republic, Mr Mahama, met the agitation over the register with the following words:

“Some parties have made it a penchant to continuously attack the Electoral Commission for reasons I cannot understand.

“This is the time we need to give the EC peace to do its work. Every little thing, they are at the EC attacking the commission ... our electoral process has inherent safeguards in it that any serious political party can ensure that it polices that election, and make sure of the integrity of the election.

“I believe that our EC continues to be one of the most experienced and the best, not only in Africa but in the world, and has delivered very successful elections in the past, and, if we give it the encouragement and support that they deserve, they should be able to deliver us a successful election.”

Five years on

President Akufo-Addo said five years on, former President Mahama “has made a complete volte-face” and told fisher folk who visited him recently that “if the EC will not listen to us, and proceed to compile a new biometric register, then they will be held responsible for whatever happens. If strife and conflict occur, the EC should own up and accept responsibility for it”.

“Firstly, the exclusive constitutional responsibility of the EC for compiling an electoral register has not changed. It has done so on three occasions since the inauguration of the Fourth Republic.

“None of the registers compiled by the EC — 1995, 2004, 2012 — the last two in election years, on one occasion when the NPP was in office, the other when the National Democratic Congress was in office — led to any disturbance or upheaval in the country, despite whatever reservations any of the political parties of the time had over any of those registers. The people of Ghana registered in peace and tranquillity and voted accordingly,” President Akufo-Addo schooled the former President.