Vice President Bawumia welcoming President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo is expected to resume work today after going on a seven-day leave.
The President started his leave on Saturday, November 13, and according to Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, the President needed a much-deserved rest.
Mr. Arhin had said at a press briefing that “President Akufo-Addo will from Saturday, 13th November, to Saturday, 20th November, take a much-deserved, long overdue seven-day leave of absence, during which he has accepted an invitation to preside over the panel that will adjudicate a debate in the French Parliament on ‘the Trial of Progress’ on Friday, 19th November,” adding “the President is expected back in Ghana on Saturday, 20th November, and, whilst away, the Vice President, Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, will act in his stead.”
The President even though on leave, led a Ghanaian delegation to attend, at the invitation of UNESCO’s Director General, Audrey Azoulay, the 75th anniversary ceremony of the founding of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which held at its headquarters in Paris, France.
During the UNESCO meeting, President Akufo-Addo delivered an important message on behalf of Ghana and lauded the world education and cultural body for its continuous co-operation with Ghana.
“Just as we were the first country, south of the Sahara, to gain our independence, Ghana’s distinguished diplomat, Patrick Seddoh, was the first African to be elected chairperson of the Executive Board of UNESCO in 1983. We were also the first African country to have a female representative on the Executive Board, in the person of another distinguished diplomat, Mrs. Therése Striggner-Scott. I say this to demonstrate how proud we are of our membership of UNESCO.”
The President had said that in contemporary times, UNESCO has been able to redefine and reposition itself to address the pressing needs of the world.
“When the pandemic of COVID-19 struck, it assisted several countries, including Ghana, to help ensure that the education of hundreds of thousands of children was not truncated,” the President said.
Just as UNESCO believes that education is a human right, President Akufo-Addo indicated that Ghana, “through the Free Senior High School policy”, is committed to every Ghanaian child having access to a minimum of senior high school education.”
Tertiary education, he added, has also seen a major boost in infrastructural development, with some sixty (60) public tertiary institutions now able to accommodate our fast-expanding student population.
“It has been seventy-five (75) years of multilateral solidarity, and we must continue for the next seventy-five (75) years to deepen our co-operation even further in the areas of education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, communication and information to achieve the future we want, and leave no one behind,” the President added.
The President was accompanied to the UNESCO meeting by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; the Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum; and officials of the Presidency and Foreign Ministry as well as the Ghana Mission in France led by Anna Bossman.