The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is calling on the leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to pursue a further constructive dialogue and tactful diplomacy in the unfolding situation in Niger.
The party said, “It is our considered view that an ECOWAS military intervention without exhausting diplomatic options will only exacerbate the crisis and lead to a bloodbath. The NDC does not support committing our gallant Ghanaian soldiers to any hasty ill-considered adventure.”
A statement signed and issued on Friday in Accra by the General Secretary of the party, Fiffi Kwetey, on Friday, noted that, the crisis in Niger has far reaching consequences on peace and stability in an already fragile West African sub region.
The NDC said it remained strongly committed to the values of democracy and peaceful democratic transition as it has demonstrated since the ushering in of the 1992 Constitution, and established the foundations of the Fourth Republic, which has become Ghana’s longest and most enduring democratic dispensation.
The statement said the NDC is deeply concerned with the recent spate of military takeovers in Africa just when it was thought that the era of coups was over and that democratic consolidation had become the new order.
“These troubling developments call for a sober and honest reflection on the state of political leadership on the continent and the plight of the people. The African people seem to have grown impatient about delays in the democratic dividend,” the NDC noted.
The statement, said “Bad governance, corruption, unemployment, state capture, neo-colonial entanglements, constitutional mutilation, and insensitive policies have become prevalent. The time for African leaders to change course, adopt a Pan-African economic paradigm and become responsive to the felt needs of their people is now.”
The NDC said war in Niger could not be a preferred option and that the considered view of an ECOWAS military intervention without exhausting diplomacy, will only exacerbate the crisis and lead to bloodbath.
The statement, said “The NDC does not support committing our gallant Ghanaian soldiers to any hasty ill-considered adventure. We are of the firm conviction that constructive dialogue and tactful diplomacy must be pursued further.”
The NDC urged the military leaders in Niger to embrace negotiations and welcome peaceful diplomatic engagements.
The statement said the NDC was disappointed in the conduct of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for failing to subject the matter to the Ghanaian Parliament for debate through which he could have secured a legitimate democratic mandate from representatives of the Ghanaian people on what is in the best interest of the country.
In this same spirit, such a sensitive matter should require broader bipartisan consultations to agree on a common Ghanaian position.
“President Akufo-Addo should not be out there purporting to be lecturing other countries on democracy when he consistently fails to use constitutional and democratic channels to arrive at the Ghanaian position on crucial matters of this nature,” the statement said.
