President Akufo-Addo cutting the tape for the commissioning of the Hall of Trade Unions
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged all political parties and actors in the country to refrain from all acts that could put the peace and stability of the country in danger before, during and after the December presidential and parliamentary elections.
“On the larger issue of the peace of our nation in these sensitive times, let me assure you of the wholehearted efforts that are being made by my Government and I to ensure the peace and stability of the nation, as we enter the home straight of the electioneering campaign.
“I am calling on all political actors and the citizenry, as a whole, to commit themselves to a peaceful process, and to forego any resort to violence,” the President stated yesterday when he commissioned the refurbished Hall of Trade Unions of the Trades Union Congress(TUC).
The President said the Inspector General of Police, and the other heads of the law enforcement agencies “have made abundantly clear their determination to enforce the laws of the land, including the law banning vigilantism, in an impartial, even-handed manner, without recourse to political colour, to secure the peace of the nation. I support fully their attitude, and will give them my maximum backing.”
2008 elections
Recounting his commitment to maintaining the peace and stability of the country on several occasions, the President said in 2008 he accepted the results of a closely fought election, which was won by the slimmest of margins, 40,000 votes, without asking for a recount.
“Again, in the disputed elections of 2012, I protested the outcome in the highest court of the land, and, after proceedings that lasted eight months, I accepted an unfavourable verdict, called on my followers to respect the decision of the court, and Ghana came out with her democratic credentials enhanced, and the peace and stability of the nation maintained,” he added.
The NPP, the President stressed, proved to the world “that we were willing and able to submerge our individual and partisan preferences for the common good.”
Ghana’s progress
The party, he added, demonstrated “that it was not the ambitions of Akufo-Addo, nor the fortunes of the NPP, that we sought to promote. The stability and progress of Ghana, and the enhancement of her democracy, were the paramount considerations that guided our every action in those difficult days.”
He said Ghana has rightly earned a reputation as the pacesetter in democratic governance on the African continent, a reputation he is determined to uphold and enhance.
“I would need, of course, the full collaboration and co-operation of the entire citizenry, including members of Organised Labour, to help attain this end. We all have to work together to create the environment that will allow the Ghanaian people to make their decision on 7th December in freedom, peace and security. It is their right,” he added.
Pension payments
The President also assured public sector workers that government would resolve the issue of ‘Past Credit’ for public sector workers who retired from January 2020.
According to him, “Government, through SSNIT, would pay the difference in the lump sum payments, between beneficiaries of PNDC Law 247 and those of Act 766, for those retiring in 2020, with effect from 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2020.”
He recalled the contents of a letter, dated August 24 2020, sent to him by the TUC Secretary-General, on behalf of the TUC, requesting his intervention to “correct the injustice and unfairness in the implementation of the three-tier pension system”.
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