Akufo-Addo’s silence on election-related deaths distressing, disappointing – Ablakwa

North Tongu Lawmaker, Samuel 0kudzeto Ablakwa, has criticized President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for failing to comment on the killing of some Ghanaians during the general elections last year while delivering his last State of the Nation Address in his first term, in Parliament on Tuesday January 5.

Mr Ablakwa said the president’s action was distressing and disappointing.

The Ghana Police Service revealed in a statement on Wednesday, December 9 , 2020 that a total of 61 electoral and post-electoral incidents were recorded nationwide.

The statement said 21 of the incidents were true cases of electoral violence, six of which involved gunshots, resulting in the death of five.

In a tweet after the president’s address, Mr Ablakwa said “Not a word of sympathy from President Akufo-Addo on the barbaric killings of 8 defenceless Ghanaians during the December 7, 2020 elections.

“Even more depressing is his refusal to institute investigations and sanction the mindless perpetrators. Absolutely disappointing address.”

Not a word of sympathy from President Akufo-Addo on the barbaric killings of 8 defenceless Ghanaians during the December 7, 2020 elections. Even more depressing is his refusal to institute investigations and sanction the mindless perpetrators.

Absolutely disappointing address.

— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) January 5, 2021

Mr Akufo-Addo said among other things that “The good people of Ghana have spoken and given Parliament an almost equal strength on both sides of the House; we have no choice but to work with the consequences of the desires of the people.

“The House would have to be more accommodating of each other’s views, and, probably, devise new ways of conducting its affairs in the interest of the good governance of our people.

“I am thankful to the Ghanaian people and to the Almighty that I have been given a clear mandate to govern the country for four more years, and, thereby, given the opportunity to complete tasks, consolidate some of the far-reaching measures we have introduced, and initiate further changes and adjustments to policies and practices.

:The Constitution demands that we go to the people after four years to ask for a mandate, and we must listen to the voice of the people. I said during the election campaign, and it is my firm and passionate view, that I should only be President in a fairly conducted election, which I believe, in all sincerity, the election of 7th December was.”

He added “I recognise that my main opponent in the election, former President John Mahama, has gone to the Supreme Court to seek its intervention, and grant reliefs that he believes were compromised in the conduct of the elections. It is good for the nation that, in the end, he chose the legal path, instead of the pockets of violence that have attended the rejection of the results by his party in the period after the elections. We all have to make a deliberate decision to invest in the rule of law and uphold the integrity of the institutions of state, so that no person or group of persons take the law into their own hands with impunity.

“Mr. Speaker, it has been my great pleasure and exceptional privilege these past four years to have served as President of our beloved country. I am grateful to this honourable House for its co-operation in the enterprise to attain our common goal and aspiration of advancing the peace, progress and welfare of the Ghanaian people.

I will see some of you in February, and, those of you who will not be present have my best wishes for the future.

“May God bless the Parliament of the 4th Republic, and us all, and may God bless our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong.”

By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana