Presidential candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, emphasized the crucial role of patriotic leadership in upholding democracy within a nation.
According to him, regardless of the duration of a country’s democratic practices, the integrity and honesty of its leaders are paramount.
A leader’s commitment to transparency and truthfulness is essential to safeguarding the will of the people and preventing any erosion of democratic principles.
“You can have the best constitution and the best regulation and laws, if an unscrupulous leader decides to take advantage of the situation, the person will do so.
“And if he does and we don’t have the population to push and hold him back, then he will get away with it,” Mr Mahama added.
The former President was delivering a public lecture on the theme: Sustainability of democracy in Africa: The Ghanaian experience,” in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, last Wednesday.
It was organised by the Christian Service University as part of activities marking its golden jubilee celebrations.
Occurrence
Referring to the United States as a case study, Mr. Mahama pointed out that despite the country’s long-standing democratic traditions spanning more than two centuries, there was a notable incident where former President Donald Trump was able to provoke individuals to storm the Capitol Hill following his electoral defeat in 2020.
He highlighted this event to illustrate how vulnerabilities within even established democracies can be exploited.
Mr. Mahama emphasized that such occurrences could potentially transpire in any nation lacking a steadfast leader genuinely committed to the nation’s welfare and democratic values.
Mr Mahama further said that leadership, such as the Office of the President “are weighty and must be approached with utmost seriousness”.
“Ghanaians are in dire straits and this is not the time for comedy or concert party,” he said.
On the December 7 general election, the former President said that following experiences learnt from the last elections in 2020, the NDC was going into the upcoming poll with its own referee by remaining vigilant to ensure every vote cast for the party was accounted for.
“We will enter the ring with our own referee by taking advantage of every instrument we are afforded to make sure that the vote you cast for me is protected and counted,” he said.
Mr Mahama explained that the reason the NDC always accused the current Electoral Commission (EC) of being in bed with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government was due to its disposition that had consistently shown that it could not be trusted.
“Indeed, it is also a fact that this government concocted reasons to remove the plain Electoral Commissioners and replaced them with people of their choice,” he alleged. Mr Mahama further said that although the President has the power to appoint members of the commission, such members should not be people with known political affiliations.
He argued, however, that certain members of the current commission are influenced by political affiliations, citing one individual who purportedly serves as a patron for a youth organization associated with the NPP called Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON).
“This commission has shown that it cannot be neutral. A commissioner has said that the NDC is a serious existential treat to Ghana’s democracy, and he is still there.
“How do you expect such a person to conduct a free and fair election?” he asked.
Mr Mahama said the NDC was not expecting the EC to rig the elections in their favour, but was only calling for fairness to ensure that the will of the people was respected.