‘Nana Addo’s State of the Nation address was disarming’ – Rawlings

Former President Jerry John Rawlings has said President Nana Akufo-Addo’s 2019 state of the Nation address allayed all fears and suspicions about security in the country, describing the speech as ‘disarming.’

According to Mr. Rawlings, the two leading political parties in the country must heed to the President’s call to disband political vigilante groups in the country.

Mr. Rawlings who was at the 2019 state of the Nation address in the company of his wife, was seen conferring with and taking photographs with the President and the leadership of parliament post the President’s speech.

“President @NAkufoAddo’s #SONA2019 was disarming. I do hope the NDC @OfficialNDCGh, and the NPP @NPP_GH will heed the call to join forces in combating the scourge of party militias and violent vigilantism.” The Former President tweeted.

President Akufo-Addo delivering his 2019 State of the Nation address added his voice to calls by various civil society groups and international agencies for the two major political parties in the country to disband their vigilante groups.

President Nana Addo said he had instructed the leadership of his arty, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to extend an invitation to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to discuss how to disband their respective vigilante groups.

Akufo-Addo said the phenomenon of political vigilantism has the potential of destabilizing the country and reversing the democratic gains the country has made over the years.

“I want to use the platform of this Message to make a sincere, passionate appeal to the leaders of the two main political parties in our country, NPP and NDC, to come together, as soon as possible, preferably next week, to agree on appropriate measures to bring an end to this worrying and unacceptable phenomenon of vigilantism in our body politic,” he said.

Citing the recent violence that marred the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency due to activities of supposed politically-aligned vigilante groups, President Akufo-Addo promised to use legislation to stop the phenomenon of political vigilantism if the two parties fail to stop it voluntarily.