President Mills interacts with Ghanaians In Senegal

“Blood-Tainted Power Is Not What I seek” - President Mills Tells Ghanaians In Senegal

His Excellency President Atta Mills has once again reiterated his oft-repeated point that, every thing will be done for Ghana to remain peaceful, during, before, and after the December polls.

Interacting with a with a section of the Ghanaian Community in Dakar, on the sideline of his visit to Senegal to witness the investiture of sworn-in President Macky Sall, President Atta Mills said that he will be abusing his oat of office if he did not ensure that Ghana’s democracy reaches higher heights after the election.

According to President Atta Mills, the loss of single life just because of the up-coming election will be an affront to our democracy. “I am not interested in political power that is tainted with blood” President Atta Mills said.

“Democracy is about a contest of ideas and not about shedding blood to gain political power” President Atta Mills added.

According to President Atta Mills, he is convinced that his Administration has achieved some “unprecedented” feats in the past three years, and is very confident that majority of the electorate will renew his mandate come December 07.

Making reference to Senegal’s just-ended election, President Mills said that it is heartening that after some initial challenges, Senegal has sworn-in a new President who is the popular choice of the people.

President Atta Mills bemoaned how Africa has been beset with a history of chaos just because some Leaders want to hang on to power for life.

“As Leaders, it is important for us to know that we are elected for a fixed term; once our time is up, we must bow out. What is important, is for us to strive to give our people what they want during the time they give us to serve”. Away from hardcore politics, one issue of major concern to the Ghanaian community, is the seeming inability of the Electoral Commission (EC) to register Ghanaians in the Diaspora.

They wondered why it is not possible for them to be able to register and vote abroad in the up-coming election.

Assuring them of not being deliberately disenfranchised, His Excellency President Atta Mills said that the issue of registering and voting abroad is in the domain of the EC – the constitutionally mandated institution responsible for organising elections in Ghana.

According to President Atta Mills, there is no denying the fact that as things stand now, registering and voting abroad will pose certain challenges which if not managed properly, can derail our quest for entrenching democracy.

“I respect the fact that as citizens of Ghana, you have the right to vote but we must also not run away from the fact that if we do not get it right, we may create serious problems for our nascent democracy” President Atta Mills said. His Excellency the President gave the assurance that once the EC gives the all-clear, Government will not hesitate to support the process.

Many of the Ghanaians resident in Senegal, are professionals working with International Organisations and they expressed their appreciation to His Excellency President Atta Mills for finding the time to interact with them and share concrete ideas on how to vigorously pursue the Better Ghana agenda.