The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, yesterday delivered the seventh edition of the State of the Nation Address (SONA), without delivering a single paragraph directed at one of Ghana’s most intractable problems, the issue of human rights, or lack of same thereof.
In an address spanning thirty-one pages, there was not a single item on the point.
This comes at a time of widespread abuse of the rights of citizens of Ghana in terms of police shootings and killings of innocent citizens, attacks on demonstrators and journalists, lack of access to basic justice and proper treatment at police stations, and many more.
The issue of human rights was one of the principal fulcrums that propelled Nana Akufo-Addo to political limelight in the 1990s and eventually to the Presidency of Ghana in 2016.
For instance, Nana Akufo-Addo praised the Ghana Police Service to the point of highlighting their shiny headquarters, he failed to address issues of concern such as the shooting of several citizens by members of the force, as well as blatant rights abuses that continue to take place at police stations and divisions across the country in recent times and under his government.
Again, even though he praised the ability of Ghanaians to participate in democratic exercises, there has been reports of demonstrators getting assaulted by security elements such as the incident at Ayawaso West Wuogon, and the commission of inquiry into same that fizzled into nothing meaningful. The lapse is a dramatic and sad comparison to similar incidents before he became President, to the conclusion that there has not been any marked difference.
Before he became President, Nana was touted, rightfully, as a human rights lawyer and activist, and Ghanaians had reposed high hopes in him that his ascendance to Presidency would see a marked difference in approach when it comes to human rights.
If that has been the case, it was not acknowledged in his address yesterday.
