Ghana's President elect Nana Akufo-Addo speaks during his swearing-in ceremony at Independence Square in Accra, Ghana January 7, 2017. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

President Akufo has denied any intentions to sell Ghana’s sovereignty in the controversial US-Ghana military defense agreement which his political opponents have described as a bad deal.

Addressing the nation, in his first public commentary on the Defense deal, Mr, Akufo-Addo expressed his outrage at the defamatory comments from his political opponents, to the effect that Ghana’s sovereignty had been sold by his government and himself.

“I will never be the President that will compromise or sell the sovereignty of our country. I respect deeply the memory of the great patriots whose sacrifice and toil brought about our independence and freedom. I have stood with you, the Ghanaian people, all my adult life, fighting for our individual and collective rights,” he said.

He assured Ghanaians that “Everything I have done, since assuming the great honour and privilege of serving you as President of the Republic, demonstrates that I remain focused on building a self-reliant, free, prosperous Ghana, which will be able to make her own unique contribution to the growth and development of Africa and the world.”

President Akufo-Addo, thus, urged Ghanaians to “concentrate and spend our energies on working together to achieve that goal of a happy and prosperous Ghana, and reject the hypocrisy of the naysayers who led our country into bankruptcy and the worse economic record of modern Ghanaian history. Let us rise above them, and build the Ghana of our destiny, the land of freedom, justice, progress and prosperity.”