President Akufo-Addo returned home yesterday after attending the just ended 28th ordinary session of the Africa Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
By 1:30 pm the presidential jet on which he travelled had touched down at the Kotoka International Airport where he was met on arrival by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and a host of government officials, including the Chief of Staff, Frema Osei Opare; one of the two Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Samuel Abu Jinapor; National Security Coordinator, Albert Kan Dapaah; Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul; Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery; the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu and the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu.
Among the president’s retinue were the other Deputy Chief of Staff, Francis Asenso-Boakye; Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; Director of State Protocol, Hassan Ahmed and Minister-designate for Aviation, Cecilia Dapaah.
Prior to his departure from the Ethiopian capital, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo met with the Ghanaian community in that country.
The meeting, which was held at the Ghana Embassy, saw many people in attendance.
He paid glowing tribute to Ambassador Thomas Kwesi Quartey on his election as Deputy Chairman of the Africa Union (AU) Commission.
He said, “It’s part of the good story that is coming from our country and it’s a good story that all of us from Ghana should be proud of.”
Charge
“We have the opportunity; it’s now for us to seize that opportunity and build that Ghana of our dreams. I believe it is possible,” Nana Akufo-Addo noted with an assurance, “I’m going to do my best; hope my best is going to be good enough.
“I’ll make mistakes; but I can promise you they will be genuine. They will not be mistakes borne out of ill-will or malice; there will be mistakes because I’m human and we all make mistakes as human beings. But I’m only giving my best shot and I’m asking you to help me and also put your shoulder to the wheel of Ghana so that we can give our people the better life that we’ve been aspiring to.”
In the estimation of President Akufo-Addo, Ghana and Ghanaians have paid their dues on the African stage and that “it is high time to harness the fruits,” saying “Kwesi Quartey’s appointment should be just the beginning of much more involvement of Ghanaians in all the continental institutions of Africa, especially at the AU.”
That, he said, is because “We are heavily under-represented at the AU, heavily under-represented at the ECOWAS and all of that is not good.” He gave the assurance, “We are going to make a much more aggressive attempt to be able to fill all those jobs.”
‘Pray For Mahama’
President Nana Addo asked Ghanaians to always remember former President Mahama in their prayers.
According to him, “The manner in which my predecessor John Dramani Mahama conducted himself [after the election] was exemplary; he has helped enhance the credentials of our nation as a maturing democracy where we understand what it means to have peaceful transition of power.”
For him, “The challenge now is a simple one – how we are going to build our economy and our nation – and we can only do it by mobilizing all the talents at our disposal; and my task and the task of those of us who are in leadership in Ghana is to find the mechanism for mobilizing all of that support.”
Assurance
In response to a plea by the President of the Ghanaian community in Ethiopia, Madam Ida Opoku Mensah, for the president to harness the talents of Ghanaians both at home and abroad to develop the country, Nana Akufo-Addo said, “I’ve created a Diasporan desk at the office of the president; it’s already been occupied by a Diasporan from London and he has already begun the task first of all, compiling the database of all of you…to device the measures, the policies that we should put into place that will attract you to come back home.”
From Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent