President Mahama has told world leaders, the peaceful and successful Presidential and Parliamentary elections Ghana has organized over the period, its indicative of how well rule of law was working in Ghana. President Mahama described that as a clear sign that Ghana was reaping the dividends of strong and working rule of law. The Ghanaian leader was addressing over 120 heads of states at the UN High level meeting on the rule of law in the United States of America on Monday. Below, is the full address delivered by President Mahama. REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA- H.E. JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA AT THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH LEVEL MEETING ON THE RULE OF LAW [General Assembly Hall, Monday September 24, 2012] Mr. President, Let me first congratulate you on your election as President of the 67th Session of the General Assembly. Let me also express profound appreciation to the Secretary General for organizing this event at this time when abuse of human rights, arbitrariness, persecution and impunity are on the rise in the world. I also wish to thank the Secretary General for his report presented to us today. I also wish to single out the special efforts of the Co-facilitators, Denmark and Mexico and commend them for their tireless contributions to the outcome of today's meeting. The respect for the Rule of Law at the national and international level is integral to the Charter of the United Nations. Ensuring the respect and strengthening of the Rule of Law is fundamental to the maintenance of peace and International Security, the effective promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and is essential to nurturing a vibrant and dynamic democracy. Ghana believes that the respect for the Rule of Law is essential to building our nation, and this has been our thinking since Independence. Our national motto is "Freedom and Justice". Ghana has over the last twenty years after the return to democracy worked to continuously strengthen our governance institutions. The framework for ensuring respect for the Rule of Law has been established in the 1992 Constitution, and continues to be further elaborated and extended. These include the passage of legislation to ensure accountability and good governance, transparency in public procurement, transparent management of Oil revenues, press freedom, human rights, transparent and credible elections, to name just a few. Ghana is reaping the dividend of democracy and rule of law. The stable atmosphere created as a result of constitutional governance since 1992 had seen a remarkable increase in economic growth last year. Ghana's economy grew by some 14%, one of the highest in the world. Per-capita income for Ghanaians has grown from $400 in 1992 to some $1, 300 today, pushing Ghana into Lower Middle Income status. President Barrack Obama said in a visit to Ghana in 2009 that what Africa needs is not strong leaders, but strong institutions. Government is therefore in the process of undertaking the following interventions by developing appropriate legislation, policy and administrative reforms: • Building the capacity of the governance institutions responsible for ensuring compliance with existing laws. • Strengthening the Judicial Service, and other agencies responsible for the administration of justice to build confidence in the judicial system both for the citizenry and for our guests who may have social or business interests in Ghana. • Reviewing the Laws on Investment Promotion and Protection. • Strengthening the Institutions that investigate and prosecute cases relating to corruption. • Strengthening the framework governing the banking and financial services industry to prevent money laundering and other such activities. • Integration of the information systems of the revenue management organization to promote greater efficiency in revenue collection and minimizing opportunities for tax evasion and tax avoidance. • Ensuring the transparent management and utilization of Oil revenues" Ghana is a State Party to many international conventions, treaties and protocols. Recently we became a party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities and its related protocols, the UN convention on Transnational Organized Crime, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the UN Convention on Cluster Ammunitions. We have also incorporated many international conventions, protocols and systems into our municipal laws. We are committed to ensure that we respect and give effect to all international conventions, treaties and Protocols to which we are a State Party. We believe it is also important to give attention to regional and sub regional organizations such as the African Union and ECOWAS and to help strengthen the institutions we have established through these Regional Groupings to promote the Rule of Law both regionally and on the continent. The Government of Ghana recognizes that our systems for ensuring respect for the rule of law can only be considered effective, if they successfully uphold and protect the legal rights of the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. Our goal therefore is to live up to our national motto of being a land which ensures Freedom and Justice for all our citizens, and those who reside and work in our country. In short Mr. President we believe respect for the Rule of Law is essential to creating a Fairer and more just World, and the promotion of "Peace, Prosperity and International Cooperation." I thank you for the opportunity.