The leadership in Parliament has urged the state not to allow individuals with ulterior motives to take Ghana to the brink and destroy the collective resolve of the nation to live in unity.
Ghana, according to the leaders, shall continue in perpetuity and therefore nobody should be allowed to attempt to fragment the country.
They assured the President of the support of Parliament to deal decisively with any group that attempts to hold the Volta Region to ransom in their demand for a separate state.
The Majority and Minority leaders made the call yesterday in their opening remarks on the development in the region when Parliament resumed sittings for the third meeting of the year.
Majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu described the situation in the Volta Region as unfortunate and stressed that Ghanaians collectively do not buy into the agenda of the separatists.
Ghana, he said, conducted a referendum in 1992 and resolved as a nation for her citizens to live together in unity and resolved to also protect the stability of the country.
“The clarion call should go to us all as MPs that the collective resolve that happened when we conducted the referendum and approved the 1992 Constitutions still holds.
“We should not allow any individuals with ulterior motives to take the nation to the brink. We must live in unity, stability and must live as a collective,” he said.
According to the Majority leader, Ghana is one state with one people, and a common destiny, and therefore the citizenry should live in one nation.
Nobody, he stressed, should therefore be allowed to fragment it into parts to serve their personal interests.
Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu who raised the matter in his remark warned the state cannot afford to allow the situation in the Volta Region to threaten the stability, sovereignty, and territory of Ghana.
He said government should endeavour to uphold provisions of the 1992 Constitution particularly Article 4, which guarantees the sovereignty of a united Ghana Republic.
He assured President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that as Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces he has the full support of Parliament to deal decisively and ruthlessly with any threat to the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
“We cannot afford that. It is a united Ghana I’m sure the President is campaigning to lead just as John Mahama is campaigning to lead a united country.
“We will support the President fully as Commander in Chief and President of Ghana to contain the imminent threat to the peace and stability of Ghana and in particular the people of the Volta Region”, he maintained.
The Minority leader noted that the development is worrying because it can undermine the conduct of free and fair elections throughout Ghana but in particular in that region.
Speaker of the House, Prof. Michael Aaron Oquaye, in his opening address to the House welcomed the members and indicated it is important MPs leave a legacy for the next generation.
He encouraged members to therefore submit various thematic areas they have identified in their constituencies to be used in drafting some Private Member’s Bills.
The opportunity to work for the country, he said, is a rare one and urged members of the House to strive for their hard-work to speak for itself.
