Free, Fair and Transparent Elections Fundamental to National Cohesion – President | Politics

A free, fair and transparent election, without disputes, is critical to Ghana’s cohesion, said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Speaking virtually at the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) Annual Conference on Monday in Accra, he noted that the significant improvement in Ghana’s electoral process since 1992 had engendered increasing citizen confidence in the leadership election process. .

The president maintained that the multiplicity of media, the influence of social media, the existence of transparent ballot boxes, the decentralized nature of the counting and tabulation and the mode of voter verification, along with the compilation of new voter records before de la Holding the December elections would avoid unnecessary disputes.

“All of these improved processes have strengthened the cohesion of the nation. They have also repudiated as fallacious the claims made at different times in our history that democratic governance would generate instability and ethnic conflict, ”he said.

President Akufo-Addo noted that Ghana had largely been spared the havoc caused in some African nations due to electoral disputes because “we have the good sense of the Ghanaian people to thank for this, and we must continue to act as brakes and counterweights for one another. “

He urged candidates, voters and citizens not to take Ghana’s food fortune for granted, but to behave in a way that fosters unity, regardless of ethnic, religious, gender or political differences and affiliations.

“The Ghana Project cannot afford ethnic unrest and sectarian uprisings,” he advised.

For the President, the crucial test for Ghana was negotiating an acceptable interface between elections and democratic governance, institution building and development, poverty, employment and economic growth, to enrich the dignity of the Ghanaian.

“There are many examples from countries around the world where that stable period of constitutional government and smart management of the economy led to general prosperity. We in Ghana can profitably emulate them, because we can do it, if we work on it. “

The president was happy that political actors had agreed on the need to hold the December general elections as scheduled despite the coronavirus pandemic, to strengthen the advancement of the constitutional order.

He assured members of the GBA Bar Association of his government’s commitment to ensuring peace and stability for the nation before, during and after the elections to uphold and uphold Ghana’s reputation as a leader in democratic governance in the continent.

“When my time is up, hopefully, after four more years, I want to hand over my successor and the sovereign people of Ghana, a country that is bigger, fairer, stronger, more cohesive, more prosperous and more united than what I knew. in 2017. This is the solemn commitment to which I have committed myself, ”he said.