Communal Violence Will Not Affect December Elections – Vice President
The vice president (second left) exchanging greetings with the NPP candidate while Victor Smith (left) looks on.
The Vice president John Dramani Mahama has said that despite pockets of communal violence in the country, the December 7 general elections would be violent-free to enable the country’s democracy to continue to thrive.
He said there had been misgivings and uncertainties over the December 7 general elections, noting that the elections would be devoid of violence.
The vice president gave the assurance when he joined the chiefs and people of Old Tafo in the East Akim Municipality of the Eastern region to celebrate their annual Ohum festival at the weekend.
The grand durbar was attended by politicians including the Eastern Regional Minister, Victor Smith, who is contesting the Abuakwa North constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), J.B. Danquah Adu.
The vice president, who is now the acting president, said the country has had five successful general elections and that it was incumbent on the NDC government to ensure that the next general elections also go into history as one of the most peaceful elections and that the government would ensure that the December elections are not characterized by any form of violence.
I want to assure the nation that irrespective of the pockets of violence in some parts of the country, the December general elections would free, fair and violent-free,he said.
The vice president used the occasion to send a strong warning to illegal miners, especially those who are not Ghanaians that the government would come after them since their illegal activities were causing great damage to the environment.
We cannot sit down for foreigners to come to the country and flout the laws of the country concerning mining and we as a government will definitely put in place a plan to help stop such destructive acts. We will pursue these illegal miners and let the law deal with them,he noted.
He called on chiefs and religious leaders to help the government stop the practice which could endanger the future of the country.
The grand durbar for the festival became a ground for politicking as the two prominent parliamentary candidates for the area, Victor Smith, the regional minister and J.B. Danquah tried to outwit each other in terms of contribution to the construction of multi-purpose community centre.
J.B. Danquah made a donation of GHC10,000 towards the construction of the community centre while Victor Smith also donated 1,000 bags of cement for the same project amidst chants by supporters of both candidates.
While Victor Smith tried to insinuate that the NPP candidate was only interested in showing off his wealth, the NPP candidate, J.B. Danquah also said the regional minister does not have any records to show in the constituency.
Victor Smith always says this because he does not have anything to tell the people but this is not the first time I have been contributing towards the development of this constituency. I did so much for the people of this area when I was the MP for the area and even when I lost the bid I continued to help the development of the constituency,J.B. Danquah told DAILY GUIDE.
The regional minster, Victor Smith, in his official speech, said chiefs must be allowed to do politics because they are the traditional leaders and custodians of the land.
He stressed that they would be able to tell which government was performing effectively to meet the needs of the people.
