President John Dramani Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has said the challenge of his legitimacy at the Supreme Court by the 2012 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is not a distraction to his administration.
Speaking on a BBC Newsday programme last Wednesday, President Mahama said he was the least perturbed by the court case. “Why should it worry me?” he asked.
The host of the programme, Farayi Mungazi, had wanted to know if the court case really was not impacting negatively on the running of his administration.
“I wouldn’t be in France if it was something that was distracting me from doing the work that I have to do. I serve at the pleasure of the Ghanaian people and the Ghanaian people voted for me,” the President said.
He said he had a lot of trust in his country’s Supreme Court to adjudicate the matter appropriately and, therefore, he harboured no anxieties.
President Mahama said categorically that he and his party did not rig Ghana’s 2012 general election.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and two others have petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify and overturn the election results.
President Mahama, however, told the BBC from France during a three-day visit that: “I know we didn’t rig that election and I’m sure the Supreme Court will come out with its verdict.
“Ghana has come a long way in constitutional governance; we have a fantastic judicial system. There are challenges, I must admit, but I believe that the Supreme Court is able to do its job and so I’m leaving the Supreme Court to do its job and I am doing my job.”
On sub-regional issues, he said Islamist militancy posed a threat that could destabilise the whole of West Africa.
The President said although Ghana had not been directly affected, no country was safe if insurgency was allowed to take hold elsewhere.
He said the intervention led by France had helped guarantee stability in Mali, but the conflict there was not yet over.
He also backed the African Union’s plan to create a rapid reaction force.
President Mahama said there had been a suggestion that the force could be funded by a tax on air travel and hotels across the continent.
In January, French forces spearheaded an operation to drive out al-Qaeda and other allied Islamist groups from northern Mali where they had seized control in the chaos following a coup last year.
President Mahama said the incident showed how the whole Sahel region had “become an attractive foothold for insurgents”.
“If we allow that foothold to consolidate, then it could affect the stability of our entire region,” he told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Despite regaining territory from Islamist groups in Mali, he said the crisis was not over.
“There is the danger of asymmetric attacks as we saw in Niger the last few days and so it is a matter that worries all of us in the sub-region,” Mr Mahama said.
“And we need to act collectively as a sub-region, a continent and, indeed, globally to be able to ensure peace and stability.”
Source: graphic.com.gh
