President Akufo-Addo being honored as the chief of the Ngleshie Alata traditional area
President Akufo-Addo has expressed grave concern about the filth that has engulfed the nation’s capital, Accra and promised to rid the city of the mess.
The president said his target is to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa.
He made this assertion when the chiefs and people of Jamestown [British Accra] otherwise known as Ngleshie, bestowed a title – Nii Kwaku Ablade Okogyeaman I – on him and his wife Rebecca – Naa Korkor Ablade I.
While expressing concern about the growing level of filth in the city, Nana Addo noted, “I think in my time, we have to bring back the glory of Jamestown and British Accra and we are going to do that.”
Promise
The president told the chiefs and people of Mantse Agboona in Jamestown that “But above all, the commitment that I want to make is a commitment that I want all of us to make, within these four years; that at the end of the four years of my term in office as president, Accra will be the cleanest city in Africa. That is where we want to get to.”
“So I want you to help me, cooperate with me and my government to work together for the progress of Ngleshie.”
Nana Akufo-Addo said the steps that have been made to rid the Korle Lagoon of filth are very important for the welfare of Accra.
“Like the harbour in Kufuor’s time, plans were made, sods were cut but since then nothing has happened,” he noted with concern.
“We’re going to begin again. The transformation that we are seeking for Ghana is a transformation that is going to encompass all parts of our country, including Jamestown.”
Wish
For him, “The best of all my wishes will be that at the end of the four years that we’re going to elections again, Odododiodioo will become NPP-Odododiodioo. The cooperation between us will be complete.”
Gratitude
President Akufo-Addo, therefore, expressed profound gratitude to the Jamestown Mantse, Obrempong Nii Kojo Ababio V, for the honour bestowed on him as one who fights to redeem his people.
He said the titles given him and his wife were noteworthy and noble, saying it had become a standard by which he would measure his life.
“I’m going to do everything within my power to be the measure of the titles that you have given me this afternoon and dedicate my life, as I have always done, to the Ghanaian people, to the welfare of people of Accra [and] to the welfare of Ngleshie,” he articulated.
The president recalled with nostalgia the time he was growing up in areas like Korle Wokon, Adedenkpo, Palladium, Bukom and Ngleshie (Jamestown), which are all parts of Ga Mashie.
He, therefore, described the chiefs and people of the area as his own brothers and sisters.
“My involvement with Accra is such that I have even married a woman from Accra and it tells you how I think of the Accra people; they are dear to me.”
Nii Kwaku Ablade Okogyeaman, as the chiefs and people of Jamestown would prefer to call him, also promised to redeem his pledge to build a new fishing harbour at Jamestown.
Commitment
“Plans are far advanced and this year, you will see the beginning of the construction of the new harbour for Jamestown,” he disclosed.
That, he said, was “going to bring jobs back to Jamestown so that the young men and women here again would be employed and live gainful lives. We are going to bring back the glory of Jamestown.”
On the chief’s request for the government to create a new municipality for Bortianor and Weija-Gbawe, this was what the president said, “I think the regional minister is here; the mayor of Accra is here and I am here. I think among the three of us, we should be able to do something about that.”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent