President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on the international community to help to preserve democracy and overcome the security challenges posed by terrorists’ activities in the West African region.
President Akufo-Addo said West Africa remained unsafe until drastic measures were taken to consolidate and entrench democratic tenants which are necessary for economic development and the protection of freedom in the region.
He said in recent times the region had witnessed worrying political developments, the latest, being the overthrow of democratically elected President, Roch Marc Christain Kaboré of Burkina Fasso.
Speaking at this year’s Exchange of Greetings of ambassadors and heads of international organisations accredited to Ghana at the Presidential Lodge at Peduase in Accra on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo said several reasons, including those of security and economy, had been proffered the new military rulers to justify those coup d’états.
That, and the other military takeovers, such as those of Mali and Guinea, the President indicated, represented grave setbacks for citizens of those countries and the entire West African community.
“No reason is good enough to dispense with the freely expressed will of the people,” the President stated.
“I have found myself in the unique position of being two-term Chairperson of ECOWAS which unfortunately had witness these military overthrows in three member states of the region.”
He said the region’s collective history had revealed that those military interventions were never a panacea to addressing “whatever challenge with which a nation may be confronted with.”
President Akufo-Addo told the foreign envoys that the Authority of Heads of State and Government had, in line with the ECOWAS protocols, suspended the three-member countries—Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso— of their membership of the Organisation and its institutions.
The Authority, he indicated, had imposed a range of sanctions on those three countries and “in this regard, I urge you and your respective countries and organisations to lend your wholeheartedly support for these sanctions to ensure their effectiveness.”
The ECOWAS Chair said the bloc had informed the military rulers in those countries, that the sanctions would be progressively lifted when an acceptable timetable is provided to return the countries to constitutional rule.
Ghana, President Akufo-Addo assured, was mindful of her responsibility to the economic integration of the West African regions and the entire continent.
He said Ghana was optimistic that the protection of African countries would to a larger extent lead to the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“As host country of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Ghana is wholly dedicated to the economic integration of the continent,” he stated.
The entry into force of the AfCFTA presented Africa with an additional opportunity to reach the objectives of continental integration.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
