“I hate the idea of being President of a rigged election” – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has said the “idea of being a President, who emerges from a rigged election, is abhorrent to every fibre of my being”, adding: “I want to continue to be the President of a Ghanaian people who have given me their free consent, with the blessing of the Almighty.”

In a national address to Ghanaians on Monday night ahead of Tuesday’s commencement of the voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission, President Nana Akufo-Addo noted, “without any form of equivocation”, that the deployment of military personnel to Ghana’s borders, is “not in any way intended to intimidate or prevent eligible Ghanaians from registering to vote in December”, adding: “They are there for their express purpose, which is to guard our borders. That is the limit of their remit, and they will not be permitted to stray beyond that remit”.

The President said it is crucial that both the registration exercise and the electoral process itself are conducted in an atmosphere of peace and security devoid of intimidation and violence.

The President indicated that he had been encouraged by the recent reassurance by the Inspector General of Police that the law officers will be even-handed in their response to issues.

“The longstanding deployment of security personnel, especially the military, along our borders is another dimension of this process of guaranteeing the peace of the nation. Fellow Ghanaians, it is no secret that our neighbour to the north, Burkina Faso, has, in recent times, been at the receiving end of a number of terrorist attacks, as has another neighbour, Cote d’Ivoire,” he said.

To shore up Ghana’s borders against such attacks, and to defend the country’s territorial integrity, President Akufo-Addo stressed that the Armed Forces have been very proactive in engaging in operations to secure the country’s borders, and foil any potential terror attacks on Ghanaian soil.

“Operations such as ‘Conquered Fist’ and ‘Koudangou’ have been going along for some time, since 21st February 2019, to meet this objective. Deployments of soldiers in areas along our borders have been regular, and residents living in border towns will bear testimony to this,” he added. 

Again, in the fight against COVID-19, it will be recalled that the President took the decision, on Saturday, 21st March, to close all the country’s borders by land, air and sea, with the military assisting personnel of the Immigration Service to shore up the country’s eastern, western and northern borders.

“This development, for example, during the period of the three-week lockdown of Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi, led to the arrest of some five thousand (5,000) persons along our borders, who had entered our country illegally. Indeed, the first six (6) recorded cases of COVID-19 in the Volta Region, for example, were those of West African nationals, who entered the country illegally,” he said. 

President Akufo-Addo continued, “In total, two hundred and seven (207) soldiers have been deployed along the borders of the Upper East Region; one hundred and ten soldiers (110) in the Northern Region; one hundred and two (102) in the North East Region; ninety-eight (98) in the Volta Region; seventy-two (72) in the Oti Region; sixty-nine (69) in Upper West; sixty-four (64) in Bono Region; twenty-one (21) in the Savanna Region; and fourteen (14) in the Western Region.”

“I have no interest in disenfranchising any eligible Ghanaian from registering in tomorrow’s exercise, nor am I interested in any improper machinations to win any election. I have spent my life fighting for free, democratic institutions in our country, and I will continue in that fight for the rest of my life,” he said.

source: classfmonline.com