Ghana’s outgoing president John Mahama has warned Ghanaians against partisanship, stating that it is “no better than dictatorship.”
Delivering his final State of the Nation address Thursday, he said the “wellbeing” of the nation and the “will” of the people must always come first.
“If we look around the world, we can so clearly see the deep divide that blind partisanship is creating in nations with democracies far older than ours,” Mahama said as he prepares to hand over the baton of leadership to president-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo.
He continued: “We can see, too, the divide that it is threatening to create in ours if we are not careful. Already, it has taken a toll on our morale and our sense of optimism. It has given way to a cynicism that is as dangerous to the incoming political party as it was to ours.”
He thus warned that: “We cannot afford as a nation to wish or hope for the failure of any president and his or her government.”
Ensuring accountability, he said, is not the same as leveling insults or encouraging apathy and “We have history as proof that we have been better and we have done better. And we will, we must, do better once again.”
