President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured that he will not tamper with the electoral rules of the country and will hand over peacefully to the newly elected President, come 2024.
Speaking at the second Kofi Annan Peace and Security Forum in Accra on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo said he pledged to set an example to leaders in the sub-region.
“As President of the Republic of Ghana and current chair of the authority of the ECOWAS States and Government, I pledge to continue to respect the tenets of ECOWAS protocol on democracy and good governance.”
President Akufo-Addo said he would not “make a course to make any substantial modification to the electoral laws in the last six months before the next elections. I will respect the two-term limits for the exercise of presidential authority as stipulated in the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.”
The President pledged not to impede the conduct of free and fair, and transparent elections.
“I will hand over power to the next elected president on 7 January 2025 and I will rally my fellow ECOWAS heads of state to take the pledge and support them as they continue to work towards democracy and good governance in their respective countries.”
The two-day 2021 Kofi Annan Peace and Security Forum, which is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the ECOWAS Protocol on democracy and good governance, has adopted a hybrid format and focused on the theme, democracy in the context of complex crisis in West Africa.
The forum aims at building political will to reaffirm the avowed commitment to democracy and credibility of elections in the West African sub-region.
The forum brought together some former African heads of states and leaders, to deliberate and contribute to the ongoing discussion on how to strengthen the role of democratic institutions to serve as gatekeepers in promoting and maintaining peace and stability.
The special representative of the Secretary-General of the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union, Hannah Tetteh, challenged African leaders to work to avoid conflicts and insecurity and collectively ensure democracy triumph.
Mr Annan, who led the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006, had an understanding of peace founded on a holistic vision of societies based on good governance, democracy, and human rights, especially in Africa.
Over the years, KAIPTC, which was named after him, works to promote peace and security across the continent.
Six African former presidents and two former prime ministers are participating in the two-day forum.
They are Ghana’s two former presidents, John Agyekum Kufuor and John Mahama; former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; former president Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone; former president Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and Niger’s former president Mahamadou Issoufou.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
