THE PEACE PLEDGE BY THE 2012 NPP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, NANA AKUFO-ADDO, AT THE HIGH LEVEL MEETING WITH THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES, ON TUESDAY, 27TH NOVEMBER, 2012 AT THE GREAT HALL, KNUST

I, like the vast majority of the Ghanaian people, believe in democracy as the best system of government under which this nation, under God, should be developed. I have fought and stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ghana in advancing the cause of democracy. I want to be President of a united country that is at peace with itself.

The New Patriotic Party has spent a lot of time and energy to fashion out a programme that we believe can lead to a rapid development of Ghana. We want to win a fair and free election to gain a true mandate from the people of Ghana to implement our programmes. We will need the support and energies of all citizens to govern if, God willing, we are given the mandate on December 7.

I believe that the peace that we all seek and pray for in our country can only be guaranteed if every sector plays its part in delivering a free and fair election—the political parties, the Electoral Commission, the government, the security agencies and the citizenry as a whole.

I can speak for the NPP and state without any equivocation that we will not do anything to endanger the peace of the nation in any way during these elections. It is in our interest that the elections come off peacefully and the outcome is credible.

We have reasonable confidence in the systems that have been set up by the Electoral Commission and we urge the Commission’s officials to be unbiased and professional in their work.

I believe the reason the atmosphere still seems clouded with anxiety and there are increasingly loud calls for peace is because the government has not tried to build any confidence measures to assure the citizens that the security agencies have a free hand to do their work in an impartial manner. The rapid apprehension and prosecution of members of the ruling party who have been responsible for the recent violence against members of the NPP in Asutifi South, a constituency represented in Parliament by a Cabinet Minister, will be one such measure. Another will be an immediate, impartial investigation into the disturbing contents of the now infamous Yaw Boateng Gyan tape, which the National Organiser of the NDC has accepted as genuine, together with the immediate publication of the results of the inquiry.

People do not feel that the security agencies are party colour blind in performing their duties. This fuels rumours and generates anxiety. The President has a responsibility to move beyond the rhetoric of calling for peace and demonstrate a commitment to ensuring that state institutions discharge their duties professionally and with integrity.
We on our part have no hesitation in signing up to a commitment to peace. I pledge on behalf of the NPP and on my own behalf that we shall accept the verdict of the people, as we did in 2008, and we pray that Ghana emerges as the shining example of a peaceful, democratic nation. I thank Otumfuo the Asantehene, the National Peace Council and IDEG for the important initiative of this platform.

God bless us all and God bless Ghana.