The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo-Dankwah Akufo Addo, has called on Ghanaians to resist the claims made by some over the possibility of a coup in Ghana.
Speaking at the 65th Independence day celebration in Cape Coast on Sunday, March 6, 2022, the President expressed worry over the rising spate of coup mongering in the country, highlighting the need for all and sundry to protect the country’s democracy.
Notably, he stated that, safeguarding the country’s democracy is a priority, and that the government is eager to deploy every means to maintain smooth governance of the country.
“Let us guard jealously the peace and stability we are enjoying. There are some restless spirits amongst us who, seeking to exploit the current difficulties confronting the nation, claim to have lost confidence in our democratic system.
“Either the absence of faith in the prospect of democratic alternative to the current government or their impatience to wield executive authority are the factors driving their appetite for the short cut of military intervention.
“Whatever be the case, they seem ready to jeopardise the hard won reputation of our country as beacon of democracy and stability in Africa and indeed, in the world, in order to gratify their personal ambition, ambitions which show little or no respect for the capacity of the Ghanaian people to change when necessary their government peacefully through the ballot box, something we have done on three separate occasions in the 29 year life of the fourth republic.
“The great majority of us who are committed to democratic values and institutions will continue to resist the claims of these adventurers and deploy all legitimate means in our democracy to maintain our free open system of governance which has respect for human rights, the rule of law and the principles of democratic accountability.”
Akufo-Addo
Coup Comments Appearing Rife
Public discussions on the possibility of a coup in Ghana became rife when Oliver Mawuse Barker-Vormawor, a social media activist and one of the convenors of the #FixTheCountry movement was arrested by the police for “threatening a coup.”
After series of court appearances made by the #FixTheCountry movement convener, other coup comments, actually, may have informed the direction of the President’s address today, at the 65th anniversary.
In a public lecture on a review of the 1992 Constitution, the Dean of the University of Ghana’s Law Faculty, Professor Raymond Atuguba, warned that the economy is heading for some difficult period if something radical is not done immediately to rescue it.
Indeed, there has been growing cases of coups in the sub-region, and according to Professor Atuguba studies have confirmed that an ailing economy facilitates all successful coup d’états in the sub-region.
“A big part of why certain coups succeed and others fail, is the economy. What is the state of Ghana’s economy today? At the level of the most irreducible idiomaticity, Ghana is broke. Your nation is radically broke. So broke, the Speaker of Parliament has publicly warned, gavel in hand, that we may not be able to pay the salaries of public sector workers in the next three months.”
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