Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Monday, August 29, 2016
New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential
candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has vowed to lead the NPP to insist on
allowing the electorate to select their preferred candidate during the December
general election.
“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,” the NPP leader said in
a statement commemorating the 3rd Anniversary of the ruling on the
landmark presidential election petition.
Supreme Court Judgement
Exactly three years today, the Supreme
Court delivered a 5-4 majority judgement on the election petition that challenged
the validity of the results of the 2012 presidential election.
The NPP, through Nana Akufo-Addo; his
running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the party’s then Chairman, Jake Otanka
Obetsebi-Lamptey (deceased) filed the suit but a slim majority of the
nine-member panel presided over by Justice William Atuguba, rejected the
challenge and affirmed John Mahama as validly elected.
Immediately after the judgement, Nana
Akufo-Addo said although he disagreed with the court, he was leading the NPP to
accept the verdict for the peace of the nation - a move that earned him
international acclaim.
Message To Heart
In his commemoration statement yesterday,
the NPP leader said, “The message from the majority on the court was clear, and
to the effect that, regardless of the infractions or irregularities that might
happen on Election Day, what happens at the polling station is sacred and
results declared there will not be reversed. We, in the NPP, have taken that
message to heart.”
Nana Akufo-Addo, who is currently on a campaign
tour of the Upper East Region, said even though the sanctity of the ballot “is
and must” be supreme, “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.”
Election Credibility
“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.”
He added, “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.”
Bad Leadership
According to Nana Addo, “With three
months to the holding of the December 2016 elections, our economy is in crisis;
businesses are collapsing; the cost of living is unbearably high for the
ordinary person; our youth remain without employment; our children are failing
in their examinations; cash and carry is effectively back in our hospitals and
we are experiencing strikes all over. God did not put us on this rich land to
be poor. It is bad leadership that makes us poor.”
Nana Akufo-Addo articulated, “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, were the Ghanaian people to 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.”
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