30 years after Ghana decided to adopt the democratic system of government, President Nana Akufo-Addo says it’s been the country’s best decision so far.
On April 28, 1992, the country went to the polls to vote for democracy after the late president Jerry John Rawlings came into power through a coup in 1981.
The results came out that the majority of the citizens wanted democracy, hence they voted in favor.The results were; 3,408,119 for the motion, and 272,855 against the motion, representing 92.59% and 7.41% respectively. Addressing the nation on the 30th anniversary of the referendum approving the 1992 Constitution, President Akufo-Addo said “3O years ago today, on the 20th of April 1992, Ghanaians took one of the most important decisions of our history. We went to the polls in a referendum to decide the nature of the future governance of our nation, whether to continue to live under military rule or to live under democratic rule. Indeed, prior to this, Ghana had sampled almost every form of government known to man.”
“…the constitution was later overwhelmingly approved in the referendum and set up a liberal democratic state founded on the separation of powers with exclusive power in the judiciary to superintend and enforce the constitution and protect the fundamental human rights of the citizenry. We have since then experienced the longest uninterrupted and stable constitutional governance in our history.”
“The benefits are showing, we have over the last 30 years witnessed sustained growth in every facet of national life. There has been considerable improvement in Human Development Index, simply put, democracy has been good for us,” President Akufo-Addo said.
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