President Akufo-Addo receiving the report from Justice Emile Short
President Akufo-Addo has reiterated his commitment to ending violence that often characterizes elections in the country.
He made the disclosure when members of the Commission of Inquiry that probed the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency bye-election shootings submitted its report to him at the Jubilee House yesterday.
The members included Justice Francis Emile Short, a former head of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), who was chairman of the Commission, Professor Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, former Dean of the University of Ghana School of Law, Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, former Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Ernest Kofi Abotsi, a former Dean of the Ghana Institute of Public Administration (GIMPA) School of Law and Eric Osei who served as secretary and counsel respectively.
Presenting the report, Justice Short said “the depth of our report will convince your Excellency of the fact that all necessary grounds have been covered, and I am confident that you will find the findings and recommendations useful in shaping important reforms for the future.”
He admitted that when the Vice President inaugurated the Commission, he was overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the work and mandate vis-à-vis the time given for it to submit the report.
“The Commissioners and I, and the Executive Secretary shared in the imperative of working with dispatch in line with the importance of the issues in the inquiry and the public interest involved.”
“We immediately set about working and with the able support of your Chief of Staff and her staff, especially Mr Kow Essuman and Colonel Oduro, our takeoff and operations were made less difficult,” he said.
He thanked government for supporting them to deliver on time to help clamp down on political violence in the country’s body politic.
On his part, President Akufo-Addo thanked Justice Short and members of the Commission for the record time in which they delivered their report, saying “the findings and the recommendations that have been made will, of course, be given the greatest of attention by me and the members of my government.”
“We have the responsibility of the maintenance of law and order in our country and that responsibility is not one which can be abdicated on any occasion; so to the extent that the findings and recommendations of this Commission can help us…it will be a subject of close study.”
“I am hopeful that the recommendations and findings will help us on the road to riding our nation of this canker {electoral political related violence} as it has unfortunately become part of the culture of our politics,” he indicated.
The President bemoaned the violent acts that characterized the Ayawaso West Wuogon bye-election.
Commitment
The President said “our duty is to confront the realities of the day and try and find a panacea that will assure the good people of Ghana that they can go about their normal duties, including their constitutional and political rights, in an atmosphere of peace and freedom and that is our main concern.”
President Akufo-Addo hinted that government would consider the option of issuing a white paper that would set out proposals for future legislations after studying the findings and recommendations of the commission.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent