Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, has called for the continued entrenchment of Ghana's democratic tenets, warning that this would require continued vigilance and commitment.
"Democracy is like a planted tree: it cannot take hold if it is not watered, nurtured and protected. Democracy cannot endure if the leaders and the people are not committed to it; if they do not understand it, or if they are not sincere to its principles.”
Nana Akufo-Addo made this call when he gave this year's Busia Foundation
Annual Lectures in Accra yesterday. It was under the theme Democracy, Security, and the Rule of Law.
This year marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of Kofi Abrefa Busia, Prime Minister of the Progress Party Government of the Second Republic, the 30th anniversary of his death, and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Busia Foundation, which organised the Lecture.
Expounding on Dr Busia’s commitment to the growth of democracy, he said the co-founder of the tradition that evolved into the New Patriotic Party “believed that democracy is consolidated when a majority of the people believes that democracy is the best form of government.
“He believed that democracy should and must work in this country and it was for this reason that patriots such as himself, J.B. Danquah, Edward Akufo-Addo, William Ofori-Atta, Obetsebi-Lamptey, S.D. Dombo, Baffour Osei Akoto, Victor Owusu, R.R. Amponsah, S.G. Antoh, Modesto Apaloo and others risked their lives to fight against the asphyxiation of our freedom, and the incapacity of our parliamentary system to defend us from it.
“Democracy, free market, human resource development, human rights, rule of law and social justice have steadfastly remained our Party’s creed since August 4, 1947, when the United Gold Coast Convention was launched. I am sure we all agree that these are the very values endorsed and desired by the overwhelming majority of Ghanaians.”
He added, "Dr Busia believed that individual freedoms were not just about the space and ability to speak freely, associate and assemble freely and to vote freely".
Pondering the problems facing Ghana as a sovereign democratic state striving to attain greater development, but bedeviled by such problems as the growing but still inadequate numbers of the police, the growing menace of drug smuggling along the West African coast, and the need to reform the criminal justice system, the governing party’s Presidential Candidate submitted, "Ghana has reached a very important crossroads.
Do we drive ahead and take the highway to greater freedom and prosperity or pull the brakes, turn back, reset the mileage and put back on our development vehicle the 'L’ sign for ‘Learning’?"