The incoming second deputy Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has asked Ghanaians to welcome change because it is inevitable.
“Nobody can stand against change, change is natural and it will come when it will come. It is, therefore, imperative that as leaders we develop the capacity to accept change when it comes. We should respect the will of the people anytime it is expressed,” Mr. Bagbin who is the incumbent majority leader stated in parliament Thursday after President Mahama delivered his last State of the Nation address.
He said Ghanaians should commend themselves for the steady democratic growth of the country.
“We recall that following the declaration by the Electoral Commission of his Excellency John Dramani Mahama president-elect after the 2012 Presidential and parliamentary election, our colleagues on the other side were dissatisfied with the declaration and took to the Supreme Court. Mr. Speaker, the verdict of the court was delivered after eight months of a thorough and laborious process. The then presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, now President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, did register his disappointment with the verdict, but nonetheless accepted it. This marked another milestone in our democratic experiments and the country received waves of approval from across the globe. It was another demonstration of our resolve as a country to settle our electoral disputes through peaceful democratic means.
“Mr. Speaker, this country scored another high mark in our democratic practice when the President, his Excellency John Dramani Mahama, called his main contender in the just-ended presidential and parliamentary elections, his Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to concede defeat and to congratulate him for his electoral victory,” he noted.
President John Mahama will hand over power to the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo who won the December 7, polls by some 1.5 million votes.
The current Parliament of the republic will expire by midnight today, Friday January 6,2017.
