Ghana's President, John Dramani Mahama yesterday assured the international community of a free and fair general election come December 7th. The President pledged his commitment of keeping the country's democratic stability with some few weeks to the elections.He took the opportunity to invite interested individual or organisations to join the election as observers and monitors because Ghana will prove her worth again.
Below is the full statement read by the president
STATEMENT
BY H.E. PRESIDENT JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA TO THE 67TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY [26th SEPTEMBER 2012]
Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary General,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
In
accordance with Ghanaian tradition and custom, I would like to begin with a
basic but essential courtesy- to express, on behalf of the government and
people of my beloved country, our deepest gratitude and most profound
appreciation to the United Nations, and to the numerous world leaders who
mourned with us following the sudden and untimely death of our former
president, Professor John Evans Atta Mills.
Ghanaians
were touched by the many heartfelt messages of condolence and glowing tributes
that poured in from all over the globe.
Those messages of goodwill strengthened us and enabled us to transcend
the adversities of an occurrence that was unprecedented in the history of
Ghana.
Professor
Mills was a dedicated and honourable statesman. He committed himself to
bringing about an improvement not only in the lives of Ghanaians but also in
the lives of all other Africans and indeed the lives of individuals throughout
the world. His death was a significant loss and I am certain that he will be
sorely missed by the international community.
With
the first-hand knowledge of what it means for a nation to lose its leader, I
want to also take this opportunity, on behalf of all Ghanaians, to extend
condolences to the people of Ethiopia, Malawi and Guinea Bissau who also
suffered the untimely demise of their sitting presidents. May the souls of
these great men who gave so selflessly and helped to move our nations forward
rest in perfect peace.
One
of the lessons that I learnt from the tragedy of Professor Mills’ death—and it
is a lesson worth sharing—is that it is during times such as these, times of
great sorrow and pain, that we often reveal the very essence of who we
are. This is as true of nations as it is
of individuals. Over the past few
months, Ghanaians have shown ourselves to be resilient, to be respectful of the
values that promote peace and the institutions that safeguard the stability of
our democracy.
In
our process of healing, we have become more united and more determined to stay
the course that we began in 1957 when we became the first sub-Saharan African
nation to gain independence.
In
the process of healing, we have become more confident than ever before in our
ability to create a Better Ghana for our children.
Today’s
assembly of heads of state is being held at a most critical time. Our world is being confronted with a number
of significant challenges. War, conflict and strife are very much features of
human existence. Poverty, disease, and
famine continue to cripple the lives of many.
Oppression, discrimination, illiteracy and unemployment still stifle the
potential and shatter the hopes of millions.
Though
examples of such conditions can be found on every continent, for a while,
whether rightly or wrongly, they seemed to be automatically and primarily
associated with Africa. Perhaps this is why it gives me such great pleasure to
lead my address to the 67th Regular Session of the United Nations
General Assembly with news of progress from Ghana, and stories of success from
the African continent.
Today,
Africa boasts some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with Ghana
being one of them. The number of countries engaged in conflict is steadily
decreasing year after year.
And
as that happens, we are also witnessing a steady increase in the number of
countries that are governed along democratic lines. As is true of all new democracies, these
systems are not without their flaws. And
while they may not be perfect, they are promising.
In
fact, three of the African countries that lost their leaders this year—Ethiopia,
Malawi and, of course, Ghana—experienced seamless and peaceful constitutional
transitions of power to their new leadership.
You
see, today, right now, there is something spectacular happening in Africa.
Growth is taking the place of stagnation; tranquility is taking the place of
turmoil; democratic governance, founded on the rule of law, is taking the place
of dictatorship.
There
is no denying the visibility and the viability of these significant
developments. At the very least, they
require an examination of long-held views and misconceptions about the African
continent. These developments must also find expression in the manner in which
developed nations relate to Africa.
In
many ways, this is already taking place, but the shift has only just begun.
There is still much room for improvement, but I am inspired by what I see,
which are limitless possibilities for Africa and its engagement with the rest
of the world.
As
the United Nations Human Development Index will attest, we in Ghana have made
tremendous strides in a number of areas with the aim of improving the living
conditions of our people.
Ghana
is on track to achieve the targets set under the Millennium Development
Goals.
Significant
progress has been made in the following areas: reducing extreme poverty, gender
parity in school enrolment, universal primary education, provision of safe
drinking water and the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Unemployment
is a challenge that exists on a global scale.
Nearly all nations, be they developed or developing, are grappling with
finding ways to tackle this potential threat to their economic stability.
In
Ghana, we are attempting to deal with this problem as aggressively and as
effectively as possible by finding solutions that are long-term and sustainable.
This includes a program we will launch to encourage young people become
entrepreneurs and through that become employers rather than employees.
In
Africa, to say that the youth are our future is slightly misleading. Nearly 65% of the continent’s entire
population is below the age of 35. Our
youth are not only our future; they are also our present.
In
Ghana, we have been working assiduously to empower and support our youth to
ensure that they will not be left behind in the fast-changing global economic,
educational and social priorities.
Government
is implementing several social protection programmes across various sectors to
cushion the poor and vulnerable and to ensure that the fruits of our economic
growth are distributed equitably.
Under
these programmes, massive investments have been and are still being made in
education; health; modernisation of agriculture; social infrastructure and
direct payments to poorest households.
In
furtherance of our battle against HIV/AIDS, a new 5 year national strategic
plan has been launched to consolidate the gains that have already been made in
reducing the prevalence of the disease.
Under this new plan our target is to achieve a virtual elimination of
mother-to-child transmission and to expand access to anti-retroviral therapy
for persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Government
has committed 150 million Ghana cedis (the equivalent of 80 million dollars) as
its contribution to the financing of this new strategic plan. That is not enough. We are now finding ourselves in a rather
ironic situation, one that is threatening the advances we’ve made thus
far.
Ghana,
like several other developing countries that have made remarkable headway in
combating this disease, is becoming a victim of its own success. As the numbers associated with the disease--
rates of infection and mortality--, go down, so too do the figures in the
global funding for HIV/AIDS programmes.
This leaves a considerable financing gap for many African countries,
such as Ghana, that are trying not only to maintain their progress, but also
move closer to complete eradication.
In
1992 under the constitution of its fourth republic, Ghana established itself as
a multi-party democracy.
Since
then, we have held five successful elections that have resulted in the smooth
transfer of power from one democratically chosen leader to another. When it
comes to transparency in the electoral exercise, Ghana is, in fact, held up as
an example of excellence.
We
are just a few weeks away from conducting our sixth successive presidential and
parliamentary election. As president, I
wish to assure the international community that this election will be free and
fair and peaceful. I am so certain of
our stability through this process that I extend a warm welcome to any
individual or organization that would like to come and monitor our elections.
This
commitment to peace that I have pledged in the past and am pledging anew today
is in keeping with a longstanding tradition that Ghana has established
domestically and internationally. In the
1960s when Ghana deployed 8,800 soldiers to the former Congo Leopoldville, now
the Democratic Republic of Congo, it became the first African country to
participate in a UN Peacekeeping mission.
Since
then Ghana has continued to be an active and key partner in the UN’s
Peacekeeping programme and was recently ranked among the top ten largest
contributors of personnel to peacekeeping operations over the years. Currently we have troops in 5 peacekeeping
theatres throughout the world.
Ghana’s
consistent championing of peace is neither accidental nor coincidental. Rather, it is by design and by
determination. We have always recognized
that peace is critical to development and to the overall improvement and
enrichment of people’s lives. It’s no wonder then that in 1961 when U.S.
President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps, its very first mission
was in Ghana.
In
the past two decades, Ghana’s position on peace has been tested again and again
as the West African sub-region was ravaged by one civil war after another. However, we have held firm to that position
and will continue to do so.
Because
Ghana wishes to co-exist harmoniously with all of our neighbours, when
legislating policy we are ever-conscious of the importance of peace; When
offering asylum or a safe haven to refugees, we are ever-protective of our
borders, making certain that political conflicts and ethnic tensions do not
cross over onto our soil.
The
unfolding tensions in Cote d’Ivoire and Mali have been, and continue to be, of
particular concern. Ghana will not allow its territory to be used to
destabilize other nations. We will not
be the storehouse of any resources or weapons that will be used to disrupt the
peace and development of another nation.
We will not harbour any individuals or groups whose intent is to utilize
Ghana as a base of operation to undermine the safety and security of another
nation.
We
will work under the ECOWAS protocol and utilise whatever other tools of
diplomacy are at our disposal to ensure that security is restored to Mali and
Cote d’Ivoire and that they find a place alongside their fellow African
countries in the continent’s forward march towards prosperity.
Ghana
has a strong belief in the universal declaration of human rights. Under the principle of self-determination of
people, Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to emerge from colonial
domination.
“The
independence of Ghana is meaningless,” proclaimed Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, our
nation’s founding father, “unless it is linked with the total liberation of the
African continent.”
In
keeping with this right of self-determination, we wish to restate our support
for an independent, prosperous Palestinian state, co-existing peacefully with a
free, stable Israeli state.
We
also reiterate our opposition to the continuous blockade on Cuba and call for
an immediate lifting of the embargo
The
21st century is fast being described as the century for Africa. Last year, of the 10 fastest growing
economies in the world, 6 were African.
Ghana, my own country, posted one of the highest GDP growth rates, with
a final outturn of 14%. Foreign direct
investment amounted to some 1.5 billion dollars in various sectors.
This
type of sustained growth, in combination with security and democracy can only
ensure an Africa that will bear no resemblance to the ghost of its former
self. An Africa where we create equal
opportunities for women to realize their full potential, and where there is
respect for the rights of all human beings.
This
new Africa will wean itself off of handouts and humanitarian relief. It will
not continue to succumb to the corruption and oppression of despots. This new
Africa will stand on the world stage as a mutual partner.
True partnership, of course, must be based on equality. When the founding
fathers of the United Nations established the Security Council some 66 years
ago, it was based on the reality of the time.
Almost
seven decades later, the paradigms and dynamics that existed then have shifted
dramatically. The lines that divided our
world and categorized it into hierarchies of first and third, the lines that
were drawn by settlers transforming once-sovereign lands into colonies and
territories, all of these boundaries have now been blurred. Technology has made
information more immediately accessible to the general public, and individuals
more accessible to one another.
The
world that we know today is not the same world our fathers and grandfathers
knew. Our world is smaller, more integrated and familiar. The current realities call for greater
inclusion to consolidate our common security.
They inform Ghana’s stand for an expansion of the Security Council to
admit more members in order to make a meaningful impact on the many challenges
that we all face.
Africa
is ready for that true and sincere partnership.
Our
time has come.
Thank You, Mr. President.
