Ghanaian Vice President Aliu Mahama on Friday urged Ghanaians to erase the impression that the country is on the verge of imploding, the Ghana News Agency reported Saturday.
"After the Dec. 7, general election, life will still go on. Children will continue to go to school, market women will still go to the market and sell their wares, workers will go to their various places of work and this beloved country of ours will still be Ghana, the beacon of hope for Africa," Mahama said
The vice president made the request when he supervised the destruction of a number of illicit weapons at a ceremony in Accra, which was organized by the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
He said the weapons destruction ceremony is to symbolize the government commitment and determination not to use weapons to perpetuate violence and conflicts, especially in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.
He added that elections are just a civilized way of selecting people to govern.
"We may have our disagreements on the choices we make, but that should not stop us from our commitment to coming together to develop mother Ghana," he added.
He said the country has worked very hard over the years to consolidate the democratic process and appealed to the citizenry especially the youth to resist any influence of being used to cause violence, before, during and after the elections.
Mahama said the proliferation of small arms and light weapons is a threat to peace, development and stability.
According to him, it is estimated that 90 percent of people killed or wounded by light military weapons are civilians and most shockingly 80 percent are women and children.
Source: Xinhua
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