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General News of Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2019-02-05
Totobi Quakyi, former Minister of National Security
A former national security minister urged the president to set up a public inquiry into the security breaches of the recent by-election at Ayawaso West Wuogon.
"I urge you [ president] act with haste to order a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the events of Ayawaso West Wuogon, so that justice is on time. It must be a substantive investigation, a credible investigation, "Totobi Quakyi said in an open letter to the president.
However, he warned the President not to be blurred by partisan coloring in such an exercise.
"We must leave aside our partisan colors so we can learn from what has happened and commit ourselves to avoid any future repetition in the name of posterity. Dozens of people waiting yesterday should not condemn the hopes of tomorrow and their generations, "he said.
Drawing on his experience as national security chief to emphasize his views on neutrality, he writes, "Your Excellency, I have occupied the national security portfolio in the election." presidential election in 2000 and oversaw the first democratic transition of political power since Ghana reached it. independence about four decades ago.
Mr. Quakyi added, "The result of this election did not favor my party nor my esteemed candidate, and the missed opportunity to continue the work we had started was a disappointment. Yet I have had the privilege of playing a crucial role in affirming our country's attachment to the high ideals of freedom and justice, as well as to the path of peace and democracy. "
Mr. Totobi Quakyi concludes that if the president failed in this regard, the nation could go to the extreme.
"I fear that our national memory of your inheritance is a moral neglect that has allowed us to go beyond the limits," he concluded.
Read the full statement as published below.
His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President of the Republic of Ghana Jubilee House Accra.
Your excellence,
I write to you in my capacity as former National Security Minister, as a son of the country and as a father, in the hope that you would exercise the moral authority of your office to bring out this country of the precipice on which he stands now. The scenes we saw during the by-election at Ayawaso West Wuogon were quite shameful and deserved the condemnation of all the true patriots of this country.
More importantly, these events were just another expression of widespread anarchy, impunity and contempt for the rule of law, which our democracy certainly could not survive if it were not controlled. Nothing less than the very stability of this nation is at stake, because the next step from this point will take us beyond the edge and into the abyss.
Your Excellency, I occupied the national security portfolio in the 2000 presidential election and oversaw the first democratic transition of political power since Ghana gained independence about four decades ago. The result of this election did not favor my party or my esteemed candidate, and the missed opportunity to continue the work we had started was a disappointment. Yet I have had the privilege of playing a crucial role in affirming our country's attachment to the high ideals of freedom and justice, as well as to the path of peace and democracy. Much of the details of this memorable period remain in the confidences of those of us who are most intimately involved, including your good self.
You know that good advice has prevailed over small partisanship and that this ego has been subject to the interests and wisdom of the people of Ghana. I respectfully request that you keep this in mind, because the uncertainty of the present time does not require any less.
Your Excellency, I took the time to inform you of the public details of the unsavory events that marred the by-election and to take advantage of my little national security experience to badess their consequences and their implications without prejudice or presumption. That's why I think it's imperative that Ghanaians have an honest and factual conversation about the events of last Thursday.
They were ominous of the upcoming 2020 elections and the inevitability of bloodshed if we persisted in this path. Our continent is full of countries that have degenerated into civil war for less. embers that must be extinguished in a hurry. The vanity of his response shows a surprising political immaturity and his attempt to discredit the observations and legitimate concerns of independent observers is truly regrettable, unreasonable and imprudent.
The events of Ayawaso West Wuogon mark a notable escalation of political violence that is fast becoming a staple of our policy, as it has been perpetrated on behalf of the state and with the means of its defense. They create a precedent that almost guarantees a cycle of revenge and retaliation that will irreparably weaken the rule of law in our country and, what is even more worrying, will destroy the already fragile trust of the public in some of our most critical national institutions. .
This, Your Excellency, constitutes the ultimate threat to the security of any country, especially in our part of the world. Several civil society organizations, including Occupy Ghana, have urged you to set up a judicial inquiry commission on the unfortunate events of last Thursday. Please consider these calls. The inaction of your government will be tantamount to the complicity of your presidency in these inexcusable acts. Your Excellency, I have had the habit lately of refraining from the hubbub of our public discourse, because I really enjoy the solitude of private life.
But silence in such a moment is tantamount to moral cowardice and I owe it to my God, my family and my country to denounce what is manifestly and unequivocally. I urge you to act with haste to expedite a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the events of Ayawaso West Wuogon so that justice is done. It must be a substantive investigation, a credible investigation. Otherwise, I fear that our national memory of your legacy is a moral neglect that has allowed us to move forward. I end with the words of a hymn of my dear Methodist Church, to which I have recalled these last days. I hope this will resonate at home as a man of faith and that people who have moral authority in Ghana and who will fall on this letter could defend this right and echo his advice:
Once to each man and nation, the moment to decide,
In the conflict of truth and lies,
For the good or the bad side; A good cause, a good decision,
Give everyone the bloom or the burn, And the choice rises forever between this night and this light. — Although the cause of evil is prosperous,
Yet the truth alone is strong; Although his share is the scaffold,
And on the throne, be wrong;
Yet this scaffold influences the future,
And behind the weak unknown,
Rest God in the shade,
Watch over his own.
Your Excellency, far too many things have already been sacrificed for the future of this nation. I send you the badurances of my highest consideration in this regard.
I beg you to agree, Kofi Totobi Quakyi, CV
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