Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
The 2012 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana addo Dankwa akufo-addo, has asked Ghanaians to prevail on the Electoral Commission (EC) to implement the reforms recommended by the Supreme Court during the 2012 presidential election petition trial.
According to him, the strength of any democracy is very much determined by the credibility of its electoral process; and that it is in everybody’s interest that ‘we all develop an instinctive respect for the rules and regulations set out for our elections.’
Speaking at the commemoration of the first anniversary of the verdict on the presidential election petition, Nana Addo, who is gunning to lead the NPP in the 2016 presidential election, also urged political parties and civil society organizations to help safeguard the electoral process in order to ensure credibility of the nation’s elections.
He intimated that the idea of somebody in the electoral process changing the figure 27 to ‘twenty-seven zero,’ so as to favour a particular presidential candidate, should shame Ghanaians to wake up and say, ‘Never again should anybody feel tempted or emboldened to tamper with any aspect of the voting process – the registration, the verification, the casting of ballots, the counting, the tabulation or the declaration.’
He urged the EC to work with all other stakeholders to ensure that Ghana has a reliable electoral system, pointing out that, ‘Ghanaians deserve and demand a reliable electoral system, which is necessary for the peace and stability of our nation and the growth of our democracy.’
Nana continued, ‘We must insist that the Electoral Commission makes a serious effort at implementing electoral reforms. Chief amongst these has, surely, to be the making of a new, accurate voters’ register to replace the bloated one we have at present. That is the way to guaranteeing a credible base document for our future elections,’ he noted.
He said revelations that emerged from the court hearing of the presidential election petition were greater lesson for Ghanaians, irrespective of political inclination, to ensure that the electoral process is improved upon.
‘The NPP is taking these hard lessons seriously and will approach all future elections with the experience of the court very firmly in mind,’ the presidential hopeful disclosed.
He observed that a major lesson for the NPP was the need for maximum vigilance on the part its members and supporters so that they could protect the votes and ensure that the party’s victory was correctly recorded and reported from the polling stations.
Noting that there would always be winners and losers in an election as the system of governance chosen by the nation indicates, Nana Addo insisted that it’s important the integrity of the process is protected at all times.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi
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