Addressing the nation on Friday ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 4th republic, the President said “we have come a long way and we should not take it for granted that everybody in Ghana has accepted democracy as the mode of governance.”
President Akufo-Addo said there is a great deal of effort needed to convince some persons who have suggested that democracy is not the appropriate governance system for Ghana.
“There are those who would rather have authoritarian rule because they claim our country is underdeveloped and democracy is cumbersome and we need to get things done in a hurry. We still have some work to do to convince such people that we are all safer under democracies.”
He continued that in the spirit to prolong the democratic journey and enhance transparency and accountability in governance structures, no government aside from his has taken the boldest initiatives to tackle corruption since independence.
“I say, without any form of equivocation, that my government has undertaken, arguably, the boldest initiatives since independence to reform and strengthen the capacity of our institutions to tackle corruption in the public sector, including the financial empowerment of the anti-corruption bodies.
“The passage of the Right to Information Act, which previous administrations had been unable to effect, and the establishment of the Office of Special Prosecutor, an independent, non-partisan body, with the relevant professional capability and exclusive mandate to investigate and prosecute acts of corruption,” Akufo-Addo said.
President Akufo-Addo assured that his government will not give up on deepening the country’s democracy and guaranteeing the integrity of the electoral process.
Constitutional Day which is celebrated on January 7 every year marks the adoption of the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of Ghana on January 7, 1993, and has been declared as a holiday under section 2 of the Public Holiday Act, 2001 (Act 601).
The Day, aside from acknowledging Ghana’s longest-serving Constitution, also ensures that the tenets of democracy, liberty, democratic governance, rule of law, accountability, constitutionalism are upheld.
