Former President John Dramani Mahama has condemned the death of persons in the 2020 presidential and parliamentary polls.
The deaths and the use of military personnel during the polls he opined has sent us backward and also against the democracy our forefathers fought for.
Delivering an address on Wednesday, the former president said: “When people lose their lives – as seven people did – in the course of our elections, we are moving backwards not forward; we are unravelling the very fabric of our democracy; we are risking the loss of three decades worth of progress.
When today we see armed military and militia in our collation centres and election outcomes declared at the point of a gun, for us who have witnessed our country’s journey through all its post-independence travails, we wonder if we have truly exorcised the ghosts of our torturous past.”
Mr. Mahama underscored the need for institutions of state to work to ensure trust in our systems.
“We must continue to be a nation in which our young citizens have faith in our institutions, trust the rule of law, and rely on the presence of peace because there is justice.
Ghana must be a country where we citizens know and believe, without any doubt whatsoever, that the way forward is determined by the will of the Ghanaian people. And that we can hold our institutions of state accountable and guarantee that they work in favour of the national interest and not in the interest of the administration or person in power.”
In answering why he has filed a petition at the Supreme Court he had this to say.
“Some people have asked me what I hope to gain by challenging the results of this election. Let me tell you: I want, perhaps, the very same thing that my opponent wanted when in 2012 he challenged the results of that election; I want the removal of doubt. I want for all of us to know that our elections should be free, fair, and safe—and that we do not have to settle for a process that leaves us confused, and with more questions than answers.
I want a Ghana where institutions of the state can be held to account. Where we can stand on principle and demand transparency without the risk of losing our lives.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com
