President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged Ghanaians to disregard leading politicians who are bent on misleading the citizenry for mischievous purposes.
The President said this when he addressed the nation on Thursday, April 5 on the US-Ghana military cooperation agreement.
Opposition NDC had consistently accused the NPP government of keeping the agreement secret from the people of Ghana.
Reacting to the accusations, President Akufo-Addo described as premature, his political opponents’ insistence on describing the document as a secret one.
“How could a document intended for the consideration of Parliament be described as a “secret document”? How could anyone who has been in government and run the administration of this nation feign ignorance of the conditions under which Ghanaian troops undertake peace-keeping operations, or the conditions under which our country has collaborated with major international institutions?” he asked.
The President further added, “It is difficult to understand that such people, knowing what they do know, would set about so blatantly to confuse people, and go as far as calling for the overthrow of our democracy, a democracy that has become the beacon of good governance in Africa?”
He described his critics as “reckless self-seekers” who did not have the interest of the country at heart.
In the president’s assessment, government has been opened about the agreement to the people of Ghana.
The President stated that but for the openness of government; Ghanaians would not have known that Ghana has had a defense and security co-operation with the United States for decades.
“But for this decision to be open about this agreement, how else would we have known that, in some instances, we have provided them with facilities for the movement of personnel and equipment to help some of our neighbours who were facing security and health challenges?” he asked.
President Akufo-Addo stated that a country cannot claim to be practicing democracy unless government has faith in the people, faith in their inherent goodness, and their capacity to make the right decisions given the right information.
The President further noted, he had vowed not to repeat mistakes make by his predecessors with regards to such agreements.
“I was fully aware of how such agreements were handled in the previous administration, and I decided that under my watch any such agreement should be subject to the appropriate scrutiny of the people’s representative in Parliament in consonance with the requirements of accountable governance and the teachings of the constitution.”
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