President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, have recommitted to Ghana’s democratic path ahead of the December 7, 2024 polls.
The two statesmen are of the conviction that democracy remains the most suitable means of governance to better the lots of the Ghanaian people.
At the presentation of the Democracy Cup by the Speaker to the President at the seat of government, Jubilee House, in Accra yesterday, the President and the Speaker agreed to work to further deepen and entrench the democratic culture of the country.
The presentation was to officially invite the President to the cup match between rivals Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko with the winner scheduled to face off with DC United in the United States of America.
The initiative is to commemorate 30 years of the uninterrupted fourth republic under the theme ‘Thirty Years of Parliamentary Democracy under the Fourth Republic: The Journey So Far”.
According to the Speaker, the democracy cup match initiative would give Ghana’s vaunted democracy a shot in the arm.
“The initiative would not only deepen the culture of Ghana’s democracy but further entrench it to advance our enviable position (as the bastion of democracy in Africa)”, the Speaker said.
He said football could be used to pull the teeming youth and the nation at large behind the Ghana project and to preach peace and unity as the polls approach; and to further commit everyone to the democratic path the country has taken.
Parliament, the Speaker said, would continue to collaborate with the executive and the judiciary as they seek to make democracy respond to the needs of the people.
The Speaker explained that stakeholders including chiefs, students, civil society organisations amongst others in the democratic space have been engaged to get the buy-in of all.
Receiving the cup, President Akufo-Addo described the initiative as “auspicious and excellent” and urged that all arms of government worked together in the spirit of collaboration.
The President said that after the turbulence that characterised the first, second and third republics, the fourth republic had so far served the country well and efforts must be made to sustain it as he commended Ghanaians for their steadfastness.
“It is to the credit of all of us,” the President said and commended the Speaker for the efforts he’s put in to see the fourth republic and stressed the need to make the Democracy Cup match an annual event.
The Democracy Cup is a one-off cup match slated for July 17, 2024 and would be preceded by a match between Parliament and former players of the Black Stars.
Launched on June 13, 2024, the cup match would climax the celebration of the three decades of the uninterrupted Fourth Republic.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
