President Akufo-Addo has urged Ghanaians to jealously protect the peace and stability of the country always.
According to him, there are some ‘restless spirits’ seeking to take advantage of the current economic hardship to promote an overthrow of constitutional rule.
“Let us guard jealously the peace and stability we are enjoying. There are some restless spirits amongst us who, seeking to exploit the current difficulties confronting the nation, claim to have lost confidence in our democratic system.”
He made these remarks while speaking at the 65th Independence day celebration in Cape Coast on Sunday March 6, 2022.
President Akufo-Addo noted that “either the absence of faith in the prospect of democratic alternative to the current government or their impatience to wield executive authority are the factors driving their appetite for the short cut of military intervention.”
The president’s remarks come few days after the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana , Prof. Raymond Atuguba, had indicated that the country is rife for a coup d’etat following the poor economic conditions.
He said “we do not want coup in this country but if we do not act quickly we may have one in our hands. There is one thing to do now, prevent coup in Ghana since the climate and the environment, national and immediate international, are conducive for one. We must compel the government to acknowledge the current economic mess, they mostly, and previous governments, to a larger extent.”
A convener of #FixTheCountry, Oliver Barker Vormawor, who is currently battling a treason felony charge, also threatened staging a coup should government implement the controversial e-levy.
But President Akufo-Addo lambasted them for being willing to “jeopardise the hard won reputation of our country as beacon of democracy and stability in Africa and indeed, in the world, in order to gratify their personal ambition, ambitions which show little or no respect for the capacity of the Ghanaian people to change when necessary their government peacefully through the ballot box,”
He added that there has been three separate occasions in the 29 year life of the fourth republic, in which Ghanaians successfully changed governments constitutionally.
“The great majority of us who are committed to democratic values and institutions will continue to resist the claims of these adventurers and deploy all legitimate means in our democracy to maintain our free open system of governance which has respect for human rights, the rule of law and the principles of democratic accountability”, the president reiterated.
