The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has stated that, Ghana can learn a lot of lessons from the just ended presidential election of the United States of America (USA), including the independence of state institutions.
Speaking in an interview with reporters, he said despite the fact that President Donald Trump at a point ordered for the complete halt of the counting of the ballots, the institutions were independent and assertive.
“And that is the kind of predictability and strengthening of institutions we see in Ghana, institutions are able to work without political influence and I wonder what would have happened if the same was happening in Ghana but we will see how issues go,” the former President stressed.
Former President Mahama called for a collective effort to strengthen institutions like the Electoral Commission, the Judiciary, the Legislature and those institutions that anchor Ghana’s democracy to offer the right service and mandate that the people had given them, without any partisan consideration.
He noted that another lesson that could be learnt from the US election was when a leader became divisive, pursued his personal and family interest and abandoned his allies, a time would come when the people would rise up and make a decision that protects their interest just like how it happened in the US.
Former President Mahama was very optimistic that the NDC would win the December 7, 2020 general elections to be able to work with the US President-elect, Joe Biden saying “when I talk about working together, we live in a global village and US as the most powerful country in the world has connections with what we do here in Ghana and when I was the president, we successfully negotiated the Millennium Challenge Account, unfortunately this government messed up with the Power Distribution Services (PDS).
“The next NDC government will try to negotiate with the Millennium Challenge Corporation to get the money back to invest in the energy sector as well as engage in other multi-lateral cooperation and climate change issues,” he asserted.
Former President Mahama, who was elated that the US has elected its first female Vice President, was hopeful that Ghanaian voters would do same in the December general elections, by electing him and his running mate, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang.
BY TIMES REPORTER
