ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
The problem is that in territories adjacent to Russia, which I have to note is our historical land, a hostile “anti-Russia” is taking shape.
Fully controlled from the outside, it is doing everything to attract NATO armed forces and obtain cutting-edge weapons.
For the United States and its allies, it is a policy of containing Russia, with obvious geopolitical dividends.
For our country, it is a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a nation.
This is not an exaggeration; this is a fact.
It is not only a very real threat to our interests but to the very existence of our state and to its sovereignty.
It is the red line which we have spoken about on numerous occasions.
They have crossed it.
This brings me to the situation in Donbass.
We can see that the forces that staged the coup in Ukraine in 2014 have seized power, are keeping it with the help of ornamental election procedures and have abandoned the path of a peaceful conflict settlement.
For eight years, for eight endless years we have been doing everything possible to settle the situation by peaceful political means.
Everything was in vain.
As I said in my previous address, you cannot look without compassion at what is happening there.
It became impossible to tolerate it.
We had to stop that atrocity, that genocide of the millions of people who live there and who pinned their hopes on Russia, on all of us.
It is their aspirations, the feelings and pain of these people that were the main motivating force behind our decision to recognise the independence of the Donbass people’s republics.
I would like to additionally emphasise the following.
Focused on their own goals, the leading NATO countries are supporting the far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine, those who will never forgive the people of Crimea and Sevastopol for freely making a choice to reunite with Russia.
They will undoubtedly try to bring war to Crimea just as they have done in Donbass, to kill innocent people just as members of the punitive units of Ukrainian nationalists and Hitler’s accomplices did during the Great Patriotic War.
They have also openly laid claim to several other Russian regions.
If we look at the sequence of events and the incoming reports, the showdown between Russia and these forces cannot be avoided.
It is only a matter of time.
They are getting ready and waiting for the right moment.
Moreover, they went as far as aspire to acquire nuclear weapons.
We will not let this happen.
I have already said that Russia accepted the new geopolitical reality after the dissolution of the USSR.
We have been treating all new post-Soviet states with respect and will continue to act this way.
We respect and will respect their sovereignty, as proven by the assistance we provided to Kazakhstan when it faced tragic events and a challenge in terms of its statehood and integrity.
However, Russia cannot feel safe, develop, and exist while facing a permanent threat from the territory of today’s Ukraine.
Let me remind you that in 2000–2005 we used our military to push back against terrorists in the Caucasus and stood up for the integrity of our state.
We preserved Russia.
In 2014, we supported the people of Crimea and Sevastopol.
In 2015, we used our Armed Forces to create a reliable shield that prevented terrorists from Syria from penetrating Russia.
This was a matter of defending ourselves.
The same is happening today.
They did not leave us any other option for defending Russia and our people, other than the one we are forced to use today.
In these circumstances, we have to take bold and immediate action.
The people’s republics of Donbass have asked Russia for help.
In this context, in accordance with Article 51 (Chapter VII) of the UN Charter, with permission of Russia’s Federation Council, and in execution of the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic, ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22, I made a decision to carry out a special military operation.
The purpose of this operation is to protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kiev regime.
To this end, we will seek to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation.
It is not our plan to occupy the Ukrainian territory.
We do not intend to impose anything on anyone by force.
At the same time, we have been hearing an increasing number of statements coming from the West that there is no need any more to abide by the documents setting forth the outcomes of World War II, as signed by the totalitarian Soviet regime.
How can we respond to that?
The outcomes of World War II and the sacrifices our people had to make to defeat Nazism are sacred.
This does not contradict the high values of human rights and freedoms in the reality that emerged over the post-war decades.
This does not mean that nations cannot enjoy the right to self-determination, which is enshrined in Article 1 of the UN Charter.
Let me remind you that the people living in territories which are part of today’s Ukraine were not asked how they want to build their lives when the USSR was created or after World War II.
Freedom guides our policy, the freedom to choose independently our future and the future of our children.
We believe that all the peoples living in today’s Ukraine, anyone who want to do this, must be able to enjoy this right to make a free choice.
In this context I would like to address the citizens of Ukraine.
In 2014, Russia was obliged to protect the people of Crimea and Sevastopol from those who you yourself call “nats.”
The people of Crimea and Sevastopol made their choice in favour of being with their historical homeland, Russia, and we supported their choice.
As I said, we could not act otherwise.
The current events have nothing to do with a desire to infringe on the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.
They are connected with the defending Russia from those who have taken Ukraine hostage and are trying to use it against our country and our people.
I reiterate: we are acting to defend ourselves from the threats created for us and from a worse peril than what is happening now.
I am asking you, however hard this may be, to understand this and to work together with us so as to turn this tragic page as soon as possible and to move forward together, without allowing anyone to interfere in our affairs and our relations but developing them independently, so as to create favourable conditions for overcoming all these problems and to strengthen us from within as a single whole, despite the existence of state borders.
I believe in this, in our common future.
I would also like to address the military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Comrade officers, Your fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers did not fight the Nazi occupiers and did not defend our common Motherland to allow today’s neo-Nazis to seize power in Ukraine.
You swore the oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people and not to the junta, the people’s adversary which is plundering Ukraine and humiliating the Ukrainian people.
I urge you to refuse to carry out their criminal orders.
I urge you to immediately lay down arms and go home.
I will explain what this means: the military personnel of the Ukrainian army who do this will be able to freely leave the zone of hostilities and return to their families.
I want to emphasise again that all responsibility for the possible bloodshed will lie fully and wholly with the ruling Ukrainian regime.
I would now like to say something very important for those who may be tempted to interfere in these developments from the outside.
No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.
No matter how the events unfold, we are ready.
All the necessary decisions in this regard have been taken.
I hope that my words will be heard.
Citizens of Russia, The culture and values, experience and traditions of our ancestors invariably provided a powerful underpinning for the wellbeing and the very existence of entire states and nations, their success and viability.
Of course, this directly depends on the ability to quickly adapt to constant change, maintain social cohesion, and readiness to consolidate and summon all the available forces in order to move forward.
We always need to be strong, but this strength can take on different forms.
The “empire of lies,” which I mentioned in the beginning of my speech, proceeds in its policy primarily from rough, direct force.
This is when our saying on being “all brawn and no brains” applies.
We all know that having justice and truth on our side is what makes us truly strong.
If this is the case, it would be hard to disagree with the fact that it is our strength and our readiness to fight that are the bedrock of independence and sovereignty and provide the necessary foundation for building a reliable future for your home, your family, and your Motherland.
Dear compatriots, I am certain that devoted soldiers and officers of Russia’s Armed Forces will perform their duty with professionalism and courage.
I have no doubt that the government institutions at all levels and specialists will work effectively to guarantee the stability of our economy, financial system and social wellbeing, and the same applies to corporate executives and the entire business community.
I hope that all parliamentary parties and civil society take a consolidated, patriotic position.
At the end of the day, the future of Russia is in the hands of its multi-ethnic people, as has always been the case in our history.
This means that the decisions that I made will be executed, that we will achieve the goals we have set, and reliably guarantee the security of our Motherland.
I believe in your support and the invincible force rooted in the love for our Fatherland.
Friends of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, good day.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) wishes once again to thank you profusely for your continued patronage of our public education events.
We are eternally grateful.
This afternoon’s press conference seeks to achieve three (3) main objectives: • To expose the politics of lies and deceit by the NDC, which has been their stock-in -trade for a long time • To expose the agenda of the NDC in setting the stage to reject the results of the 2020 general elections • To make Ghanaians aware of the hypocritical stance of the NDC on Government’s security interventions, and • To assure Ghanaians of government’s efforts to safeguard election security come December 7, 2020 The NDC is Sensing Defeat Ladies and gentlemen, as we inch closer to the general elections, the NDC is beginning to pick signals that point to its impending ominous defeat.
A defeat that will be worse than the one they suffered in 2016 Insha Allah These signals are not just a result of their inferior track record in government, weak campaign machinery and an unattractive flagbearer who suffers a serious credibility deficit.
They also emanate from the sheer superiority of the NPP government in keeping to its campaign promises, having a credible leader in His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and relentlessly engaging electorates in every corner of the country to share its message of hope and development through an efficient campaign machinery.
Evidently, the NPP’s grassroots engagement has received massive public endorsement, while that of the NDC has lacked steam resulting in instances of rejection by the people leading to the suspension of campaign activities of its flagbearer and running mate.
We of the NPP have also not been surprised about the bankruptcy of ideas and inefficiency that have characterized the NDC’s campaign.
What is shocking, however, is the plague of self-denial that has blinded the party from accepting that Ghanaians will overwhelmingly reject them come December 7, 2020.
Even when credible global Institutions have looked into the crystal ball and projected victory for the NPP in the 2020 general elections, the NDC remains adamant that it could hoodwink Ghanaians into believing in its propaganda-laden campaign message.
It is worth reminding Ghanaians that on two separate occasions, April 2020, and July 2020 respectively, the Economist Intelligence Unit, a reputable global firm, predicted a win for the NPP.
Similarly, a recent October 2020 report by the Fitch Solutions, an American based rating agency has also predicted victory for the NPP.
The common denominator informing the predictions of these reputable firms is the superior governance and economic performance of the NPP relative to the NDC, a universal truth that the NDC continues to deny.
But as reality gradually dawns on the NDC on how it has failed to take practical steps to make the party appealing to Ghanaians, let alone salvage it from an impending defeat, the party has begun preparing the grounds to reject the results of the 2020 general elections.
The NDC is setting the Stage to Reject the Results of the 2020 General Elections Friends of the media, with 54 days to the December 2020 general elections, the opposition NDC has set out to achieve two main objectives: first, to project the EC as not credible, incompetent and biased, and second, to create a false sense of insecurity to hoodwink electorates.
These are evidenced by their incessant attacks on the EC, the integrity of its processes and persistent doomsday sensational proclamations to court disaffection for government, with the ultimate aim of salvaging their plummeting electoral fortunes.
On the back of an imminent defeat, the NDC, has resorted to setting the stage to reject the outcome of the yet-to-be-conducted December polls.
Ironically, Mr.
Mahama, who on April 4, 2016 called on all political parties and other stakeholders to allow the Charlotte Osei-led EC to peacefully execute its mandate, has rather been leading attacks on the Jean Mensah-led EC.
Ladies and Gentlemen, what changed?
On June 10, 2020, Mr.
Mahama was on record to have said and I quote “the NDC will not accept the results of a flawed election”.
The hypocrisy and inconsistency of the NDC are legendary to say the least.
This clearly shows the unwillingness of candidate Mahama and the NDC to accept the outcome of the 2020 general elections should the NDC lose.
Following their failed attempt to prevent the compilation of the new voters’ register, the NDC has consistently attacked the EC as incompetent, and projected it as an appendage of the ruling party.
The NDC is pursuing all these unscrupulous activities as a knee-jerk reaction to avert the grand defeat that awaits the party on December 7th 2020.
Through propaganda, the NDC is creating a false state of insecurity in the country to play on the emotions of Ghanaians for electoral gains.
Statements by leading members of the party such as Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, Sammy Gyamfi, and Inusah Fuseini amongst others affirm this assertion.
The General Secretary of the NDC in a ghanaweb.com report on October 11, 2020 alleged that government was issuing weapons from the State armoury to over 4,000 pro-NPP vigilantes.
This blatant falsehood is part of the NDC’s grand scheme to fictitiously create a worrying state of insecurity to deceive the electorate.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the NDC has also resorted to spreading of fake news to dent the image of the NPP government.
A fake news portal, graphicgh.com, has been created to mimic graphic.com.gh to churn out fake news that misinforms the general public.
Indeed, the NDC has registered and is using so many of such domain names to populate the internet space with a lot of fake news.
They mimic established media houses like the Ghana News Agency and such state news agencies.
So, they have ghananewsavenue.com, bbcnewsghana.com and ghanapoliticsonline.com It was therefore not surprising that leading NDC operatives started referencing graphicgh.com, the fake news portal, as the source for the alleged blacklisting of Ghana by the European Union (EU).
Consequently, a statement by Ambassador Diana Acconcia, head of EU’s delegation to Ghana which debunked the said allegations, has stripped the NDC naked.
Again, the National Cyber Security Centre has confirmed that an audio circulating on social media purported to be from an international media outlet suggesting that a Government official was involved in laundering money to the UK, is also fake.
Perhaps what is most shocking and what amounts to throwing all decency to the wind, is when a lawyer, Inusah Fuseini and a legislator goes on public record to repeat such blatant and obvious lies.
It is amazing how because of politics people can jettison the ethics of their profession.
Ladies and gentlemen, I will like to use this medium to condemn the appalling behaviours of these leading NDC operatives.
As people who are looked up to by their rank and file, the least this nation requires of them is a sense of decorum and decency and an adherence to basic ethical principles that promote national cohesion and progress.
Again, the Ghana Revenue Authority has issued a statement to debunk the NDC’s allegation that that a so-called big man in government is arm-twisting its agents at the Tema Port to release arms that were illegally imported into the country.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we should ask the NDC what it sees to achieve by constantly raising the temperature of the county and seeing to create an atmosphere of insecurity.
We remember with shame how in 2008, the NDC put out names and so-called account numbers of NPP Ministers under President Kufuor with ridiculous amounts of monies allegedly deposited in their accounts, which in total, exceeded Ghana’s entire resource envelope.
The desire by the NDC to lie against the NPP knows no bounds, even if it means insulting the intelligence of the Ghanaian people by thinking that Ghanaians are so gullible as to believe anything and everything.
We remember how in 2008 they lied that President Kufuor had sold all the bars at the Bank of Ghana.
We in the NPP disagree with the NDC in their belief that politics is a dirty game and must be played in a dirty and unethical fashion.
We believe that dirty people make politics dirty just as there are dirty people in all professions.
But for those who seek to occupy public office, we believe that they more than everybody else, should cultivate a higher sense of responsibility and ethics.
Election 2020 is about comparison of records and not vitriolic attacks.
It is also about the comparison of the superior leadership qualities of President Akufo-Addo, who is competent, compassionate and incorruptible against the incompetence, indecisiveness, corruption and visionlessness of Mr.
Government’s Security Interventions and the NDC’s Hypocritical Stance Ladies and gentlemen, we proceed further to expose the hypocrisy of the opposition NDC and why they cannot be trusted when they raise allegations about the state of security in the country.
It would be recalled that in February 2019, Ghanaians were thrown into a state of shock following the emergence of a tape of Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, National Chairman of the NDC, which detailed a plot by the party hierarchy to make the country ungovernable.
The natter is before our courts and I shall say no more.
Friends of the media, the NDC’s reaction to the deployment of security personnel to Ghana’s border towns at the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic is further proof that the party only pretends to care about national security but they are quick to politicise security interventions when they see an opportunity to excite their base.
The decision to intensify security at various border posts and unapproved routes was to prevent the importation of the deadly Coronavirus disease.
It needs mentioning that the deployment was made at a time when every other country was implementing similar measures in view of the inherent threats posed by the importation of the virus.
However, in resorting to their old tricks of mischief and falsehood, the NDC deliberately created the false impression that the security deployment was targeted at their strongholds to intimidate indigenes and prevent them from participating in the recently held voters’ registration exercise.
Interestingly, same deployment was made to border posts and unapproved routes in the Western, Western North, Upper West, Upper East and Bono regions.
Following recent attacks in parts of the Volta region by some miscreants, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the NDC’s Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, alleged that some of the attackers were Togolese nationals who had sneaked into the country.
His allegation that some of the attackers are non-Ghanaian and the means by which they entered the country is further proof that the deployment of security to the Volta region was solely influenced by national security considerations devoid of political machinations.
Again, the NDC was badly exposed for politicising a serious national security threat.
In what many would regard as more surprising and a clear demonstration of the NDC’s lack of patriotism and needless politicisation of national security, the party shamefully supported some individuals who had plotted to overthrow the current administration and even accused the President of persecuting the suspects due to their ethnic identity.
Conclusion Ladies and Gentlemen, there are indications that the strategy of the NDC is to unleash a series of coordinated attacks on the basis of a non-existent collusion between the EC and government and create a false impression of a possible rigging in preparation to reject the party’s obvious defeat in the 2020 general elections.
We, therefore, call on all Ghanaians, especially, Civil Society Organisations (CSO), the National Peace Council, leaders of religious organizations and Chiefs of our Land, to condemn NDC’s diabolic plan to misinform Ghanaians and create fear and panic in the country.
Friends of the media, the 7 peaceful elections conducted in Ghana since the inception of the fourth republic justify the country’s long-touted democratic leadership in the sub-region.
That Ghana is heralded in the international community as a beacon of hope, is on account of the hard work and sacrifices made by our forebears and all who contributed to shaping the peaceful political landscape of this country.
Like past elections, the 2020 general elections would be a test of the political fortitude of the country; and again, the NPP-led government would prove to the world that the peace and democracy of this country reign supreme.
To this end, let me use this opportunity to reiterate the assurance made by government that the peace of this country would not in any way be compromised before, during and after the elections.
As indicated by President Akufo-Addo, efforts have been made by the relevant State security agencies to ensure that the sanctity of the elections is safeguarded.
Hence, this election would undoubtedly pass the test, and Ghana would again emerge victorious.
To the good people of Ghana, and the many beneficiaries of the good governance of the NPP, I implore you to overwhelmingly endorse the re-election bid of President Akufo-Addo.
It is contingent on us –you and I, who have seen the good work of the NPP-led government; you and I, who are witnesses to how this administration has enhanced the economic fortunes of this country; you and I, who strongly believe that we and future generations deserve better, you and I, who believe that President Nana Akufo-Addo deserves 4 more to do more –to come out in our numbers and vote on the day of elections.
Let us vote massively for the NPP on December 7, 2020 and give it an incontestable victory margin wider than that witnessed in 2016.
Good Morning Citizens of Ghana, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press.
I welcome you to the 9 th edition of the “Let The Citizen Know” press briefing.
We thank God for a new day.
His mercies are new every morning.
Indeed, the fact that we have successfully completed the 2020 Voters Registration Exercise is a testament of His faithfulness.