The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has urged President Akufo-Addo and the Speaker of Parliament to work hard to deepen the peace in Ghana.
He also urged Ghanaians in general to support the president and other leaders to do away, purely for political expediency, with anything that will jeopardise the peace the country has enjoyed for decades.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu said the current system in which the legislature and the executive have leaders from opposing political parties should not lead to chaos and ineffectual governance, but rather be an opportunity for statesmanship and the cultivation of the spirit of compromise that has been the crucial element missing from political discourse.
“This is a plea I address to the nation, every citizen in cities, towns, villages and hamlets. But it begins with the two mighty figures,” Otumfuo pleaded.
The Asantehene made these remarks when the Millennium Excellence Foundation conferred the Gold Coast Prize for National Cohesion and Stability on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the 2020 Millennium Excellence Awards.
The awards ceremony was held at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi last Saturday.
Organised by the Millennium Excellence Foundation (MEF), the event saw 35 individuals and companies receive awards for excelling in their fields of endeavour.
The prizewinners included distinguished men and women from Ghana, Nigeria and other African countries.
Decorated
Otumfuo Osei Tutu, who is the life patron of the Millennium Excellence Foundation, decorated President Akufo-Addo with a colourful robe and a hat at a well-organised ball to mark the occasion at the Manhyia Palace.
The foundation said the award was in recognition of the president’s “meritorious work in the areas of national cohesion and stability in Ghana”.
Otumfuo said a cursory glance around Africa showed a continent ravaged by politics at a time of extraordinary challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In spite of the difficulties facing Ghana, it is refreshing, the Asantehene said, that the country is still enjoying peace.
Fresh start
Otumfuo Osei Tutu said the country is looking up to the president and the Speaker to give Ghana a fresh start in parliamentary governance.
What Ghanaians are looking for is a legislature which is able to hold the executive to account without being obstructive to government leaders’ execution of their electoral mandate, he said.
“And we look further to our political leaders to inspire a new approach to politics that removes any unconscious threat to our peace,” he said.
Regret
The Asantehene expressed regret that Ghana has failed to take account of the impact of traditional governance on the evolution of “our state”.
“If we did, we would realise that … the chiefs who make up the traditional council or who constitute the chief’s court … come from very diverse points,” he said. “Their views are often as diverse and contentious as may be heard in your political forum.
“And yet the system allows for them to be heard and for a consensus to be arrived at,” the Asantehene said.
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