President John Agyekum Kufuor has asked people he refers to as 'doom mongers' to stop their noises and pipe down on their predictions of what anarchy could visit the nation if the 2008 elections were rigged.
He told the People's Assembly held at Sekondi on Tuesday that what the election would require is the diligence and vigilance of all to ensure a fair and transparent election.
He said he had personally sought to intervene in the destruction that has attended the Kenyan elections and was sure anarchy was the last thing anyone would wish for the country.
The 2007 Peoples' Assembly was held under the theme; Ghana after 50, looking into the future with hope.
President Kufuor said he was very happy to be at the event with his team of ministers to answer questions and thereby give an account of the government’s stewardship for the past seven years.
"But let me begin by wishing all of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year,"
President Kufuor said the whole nation celebrated the golden jubilee of independence and was testimony enough that in spite of the many difficulties encountered so far, Ghana remains united as one nation, for which "we should indeed all be thankful to the Almighty."
He said the occasion of the jubilee has afforded the country the opportunity to reflect on its successes and failures over the years and it has become clear that the adoption of the Fourth Republican Constitution is a confirmation of the national preference for democratic governance over all other forms of governance.
"Its processes, structures and systems that make for individual freedoms and liberties must therefore continue to be nurtured and sustained."
He said they are so crucial in "unleashing the full potential of the citizenry, individually and collectively, for building a truly great nation which is the destiny of our nation Ghana."
“In the wake of this realisation, the structures for accelerated economic growth have been identified and are now largely in place. However, entrepreneurship which must be central to these structures and should also provide the main vehicle for empowering the people to capture the commanding heights of the economy, with due apologies to our late Head of State, General Acheampong, is not being promoted vigorously enough by both the public and private sectors. Indeed, this was the rational for setting up the Ministry for Private Sector Development to excite the society in general to recognise the primacy of the Private Sector in the crucial partnership that must be achieved between it and the public sector for the accelerated growth of the nation’s socio-economy.”
President Kufuor said the development would establish the needed focus of the national vision of Ghana Incorporated and also ensure continued selection of committed leadership to galvanize all sections of the society to share and pursue the common vision.
He sad all these past seven years, the government has advocated this vision and expressed happiness that the government’s development model is building concurrently, a stable and growing economy as well as establishing institutions for democratic governance and the rule of law.
“This is in sharp contrast to the number of instances in the emerging countries around the world where accelerated economic growth has tended to come at the expense of individual freedoms.”
He said perhaps the government’s unique achievement should not be surprising since the motto of the ruling party is development in freedom.
“Today Ghana’s economy is not only stable and registering steady economic growth, but also it is enjoying international acceptance. Inflation and interest rates are both on the downward trend. The cedi has remained relatively stable against major currencies. It has also been successfully re-denominated without incident. The Ghana cedi exchanges with the United States dollar one-to-one with some balance for Ghana.”
The President also reiterated his commitment to fight corruption, maintaining that he still stands by his slogan of zero tolerance for corruption.
He however urged all who allege malfeasance against others to help the process with prove and not leave it hanging.
Source: MJFM
