President Nana Akufo-Addo has said the 1992 Constitution is not a perfect but indicated it has served the nation well since its inception. According to him, the Constitution is a sacred document that should not be tampered with lightly, but hasten to add that, “our Constitution did not descend from heaven, we, Ghanaians, drew it up to serve our needs, and we can amend it to suit our changing needs and circumstances.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is not a perfect document, Constitutions do not ever pretend to be; but it has served us well these past thirty-two (32) years, considering where we have come from” he reiterated.
Nana Akufo-Addo delivering the State of the Nation Address on Tuesday (February 27, 2024) admonished all stakeholders to work towards finding a consensus on the changes that the majority of Ghanaians want made to the Constitution.
The President in his address stated democracies are founded on elections, and the holding of free and credible elections ensure that people have confidence in the government that emerges at the end of the process.
However, he said a lot of the responsibility lies on the Electoral Commission to put the organisation in place that would ensure that we have credible elections, adding the government is doing its part to make the work of the Electoral Commission go smoothly.
Mr. Akufo-Addo indicated a lot of responsibility also lies on the political parties as well expressing optimism that the parties will recognise that their credibility is also on the line despite some people wanting to undermine the multi-party democratic system of government.
“It is up to the parties to demonstrate that competitive elections are an honourable, character enhancing experience, and, at the end of the process, the loser will congratulate the winner, and the world does not come to an end because an election has been lost.”
The President observed the increased decibel level in all communications would ensure that even the most politically uninterested person among us would know that, on December 7, we shall be going to the polls to elect a new President and Members of Parliament.
He posited that there is nothing inherently dirty or corrupt about politics, and nothing about elections that should generate violence.
“We, who are in politics and we who are members of political parties, owe it to ourselves, the institutions we claim to belong to, and, above all, we owe it to Ghana and the people of Ghana to make politics and elections the serious and joyful phenomenon they should be” he entreated.
