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President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has responded to comments by former President John Dramani Mahama regarding the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on Thursday, January 31, 2019.

There were series of violence during the by-elections which resulted in a bloody shooting incident.

About eight electorates sustained various degrees of gun-shot wounds after some faceless security personnel brutally attacked them at the Bawaleshie Presby polling station.

This led to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) boycotting the elections.

Reacting to the brutal attacks on NDC members during the elections, former President John Mahama on Thursday issued a stern warning to the ruling New Patriotic Party stressing “we are not going to joke in 2020 and I’m sounding a warning to the NPP – we are going to match them boot for boot . . .”

“NDC has revolutionary rules and that when it comes to unleashing violence, nobody can beat us in unleashing violence; it is just that we midwifed Ghana’s democracy and so we must be the first to respect Ghana’s democracy and that is why we are acting as a party that is very docile and respecting the rule of law but if we believe that the government cannot protect our people…then we would have to advise ourselves,” he added.

In a quick riposte to the former President's comments, President Akufo-Addo, whiles condemning Mr Mahama for seemingly inciting NDC members, pointed out that his government's policy is to "liberate the energies of the people for the growth of a property-owning democracy in this land, with right to life, freedom and justice as the principles to which the Government and laws of the land should be dedicated in order specifically to enrich life, property and liberty of each and every citizen".

" . . It is important also to state that the New Patriotic Party, the party from which my Government was born, would never dream of competing with any other political party in unleashing violence on the Ghanaian people. The Ghanaian people have, again, demonstrated to the world their deep attachment to the principles of democratic accountability and the rule of law. Ghana’s democracy is robust, and will only grow from strength to strength," he further stated in a Facebook post today.