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ADDRESS BY NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OF THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY, AT SIGNING OF THE ACCRA PEACE ACCORD, AT THE MOVENPICK HOTEL, ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016

Like the vast majority Ghanaians, I continue to believe in democracy as the best system of government under which this nation, under God, should be developed.

I have spent nearly four decades of my life standing shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ghana in advancing the cause of democracy. I want to be President of a united country that is at peace with itself.

Over the course of the last 24 months, the New Patriotic Party has fashioned out a comprehensive programme which we believe will lead to a rapid development of Ghana, and a significant improvement in the standards of living of her people.

We want to win a fair and free election, and gain a true mandate from the people of Ghana to implement our programmes. We will need the support and energies of all citizens to govern if, God willing, we are given the mandate on December 7.

The strength of any democracy is very much determined by the credibility of its electoral system. It is in our collective interest that we ensure that the rules and regulations for the conduct of elections are fair and transparent, and that we all develop respect for them.

Every sector must play its part in delivering a free and fair election—the political parties, the Electoral Commission, the government, the security agencies and the citizenry as a whole.

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.

I can speak for the NPP and state without any equivocation that we will not do anything to endanger the peace of the nation in any way during these elections. It is in our interest that the elections come off peacefully and the outcome is credible.

On my part, I have demonstrated my commitment to maintaining the peace of our country on several occasions. In 2008, I accepted the results of a closely fought election, which was won by the slimmest of margins, some 40,000 votes, without asking for a recount.

Again, in the disputed elections of 2012, I protested the outcome in the highest Court of the land, and after proceedings that lasted eight months, Ghana came out with her 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 ambitions of Akufo-Addo, nor the fortunes of the NPP, that we sought to promote. The stability and progress of Ghana, and the enhancement of her democracy were the paramount considerations that guided our every action in those difficult days.

I believe the reason the atmosphere still seems clouded with anxiety and there are increasingly loud calls for peace is because the government has not tried to build any confidence measures to assure the citizens that the security agencies have a free hand to do their work in an impartial manner.

The rapid apprehension and prosecution of members of the ruling party who have been responsible for the recent violence against members of the NPP in Asutifi South, a constituency represented in Parliament by a Cabinet Minister, will be one such measure.

Likewise in Odododiodioo and Asunafo South, where violence is being perpetrated on a daily basis against citizens and members of the NPP by operatives of the ruling party.

Many people do not feel that the security agencies are currently party colour blind in performing their duties. This fuels rumours and generates anxiety. The government has a responsibility to move beyond the rhetoric of calling for peace and demonstrate a commitment to ensuring that state institutions discharge their duties professionally and with integrity.

We on our part have no hesitation in signing up to a commitment to peace. I pledge on behalf of the NPP and on my own behalf that we shall accept the verdict of the people, in the context of a free, fair and transparent process, and we pray that Ghana retains its position as the shining example in Africa of a peaceful, democratic nation.

We are grateful for the interest the international community is showing in our democratic process and welcome particularly the presence at this ceremony of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of the Republic of Liberia and current chair of ECOWAS, former President of the Republic of South Africa and head of the Commonwealth Observer Mission, Thabo Mbeki, our compatriot, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, and Madame Josephine Ojiambo, Deputy Commonwealth Secretary-General. I use this occasion also to thank publicly UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, and US Secretary of State, John Kerry, for the personal interest they have manifested directly to me in the last few days in Ghana’s democratic consolidation, peace and stability.

 
God bless us all and God bless Ghana and Mother Africa.