Nana Akuffo Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described his victory over former president John Dramani Mahama as historic and not surprising to Ghanaians.
According to him, his victory was something that had never happened in the country, adding, the parliamentary election also saw the New Patriotic Party (NPP) clinch majority of the seats in Ghana’s Parliament.
President Akufo-Addo was speaking at a forum organised by the Konrad Adenaeur Foundation’s Academy, on the theme: ‘Ghana, A Rising Star of Africa’.
He said Ghanaians wanted a change of government and in doing so they went to the polls on December 7, 2016 to give him a historic victory which saw him unseat a president who had served only a term in office.
“The upshot of our collaboration was the dramatic, emphatic victory the Ghanaian people conferred on the party and my modest person on December 7, 2016,” he stressed.
President Akufo-Addo explained that “in the process, for the first time in the history of Ghana’s 4th Republic, an opposition leader won the presidential ballot outright in the first round, unlike the situations in 2000 and 2008, when the then opposition leaders, John Agyekum Kufuor and John Evans Atta-Mills, needed two rounds to secure victory.”
The December polls he said was a testimony of how voters wanted a new era where opportunities for the private sector, peace, stability and rapid economic were assured.
The President indicated that December 7, 2016 was a good day for all those Ghanaians who believed in Ghana’s democratic engagement and in the potential of an efficient Ghanaian private sector to drive in conditions of social justice and solidarity.
“The rapid economic development of our country will compel us to work ahead of us to maintain the fidelity of the Ghanaian people to those beliefs since the world had become surprised at the results from our polls but not to Ghanaians.”
“This is the clearest manifestation of the attachment of the Ghanaian people to democracy and proof that democratic principles have become ingrained in our collective psyche.
“Indeed, the rest of the world might have been surprised by the conduct and outcome of our elections, but the people of Ghana were certainly not surprised. I believe we can safely claim, therefore, that the foundations are now in place for a durable system of government in our country,” he stressed. –rainbowradioonline.com
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