By Stephen Asante
Accra, Feb. 19, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the Ghanaian people have manifested in this era their deep attachment to the principles of democratic accountability, respect for individual liberties, human rights and the Rule of Law.
That, he said, had brought with it more or less “systematic economic growth, and boosted immensely our self-confidence”.
“For the past thirty (30) years of our Fourth Republic, Ghana has enjoyed political stability under a multi-party constitution, and the longest period of stable, constitutional governance in our hitherto tumultuous history.
“We have, in this period, experienced, through the ballot box, the transfer of power from one ruling political party to another on three (3) occasions in conditions of peace and stability, without threatening the foundations of the state,” he stated.
President Nana Akufo-Addo was delivering the keynote address at a side-event organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany.
Citing the case of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo indicated that political instability described much of the early decades of the nation’s life as an independent nation, and Ghana became notorious for sampling every and any type of political experiment.
“The one-party-state of the First Republic was overthrown in our first military coup, and the Second and Third Republics, which were practicing democratic governance, were also overthrown by coup d’états.
“My father, President of the Second Republic, was overthrown some fifty-one years ago, on 13th January 1972. Kutu Acheampong’s coup brought his stay in office to an end,” he said.
According to him, the instability instigated the collapse of the economy, and led to the exodus from the country of many citizens and professionals.
“We have probably not still recovered from the tendency to want to leave the country as the answer to difficult situations,” President Nana Akufo-Addo noted.
The Munich Security Conference is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, since 1963.
It was formerly known as the Munich Conference on Security Policy, and one of the world’s largest gatherings of its kind.
Over the past four decades, the Munich Security Conference has become the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers.
Each year, it brings together about 350 senior figures from more than 70 countries around the world to engage in an intensive debate on current and future security challenges.
The attendees include heads of states, governments and international organizations, ministers, members of parliament, high-ranking representatives of armed forces, science, civil society, as well as business and media.
GNA