President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Residents of the Volta Region have expressed gratitude and excitement to the government, led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for moving the entire nation to Adaklu near Ho, the Volta regional capital, to observe the country’s 66th Independence Day celebration.
The celebration, which was held at the newly constructed Volta Regional Youth Resource Centre, saw the President strongly calling for unity as the country navigates the difficult economic situation it currently finds itself.
According to him, by continuously focusing on “the things that unite us and avoiding those that divide the nation,” Ghana will overcome its challenges and become what the people want and deserve.
The President made the call while addressing the nation and thousands that gathered at the Youth Resource Centre in the Volta Region to observe this year’s 66th Independence Anniversary Celebration Parade. He spoke on the theme; “Ghana at 66; Our Unity, Our Strength, Our Purpose.”
He stressed that, “We should be united with God protecting us. For it is only in a free democratic form of governance and intelligent management of the economy that will bring the upliftment that Ghanaians want and deserve.”
He added that the country should also be united in its resolve to ensure that good policies are protected. For instance, Ghanaians should ensure that “no Ghanaian child is denied access to quality education and the ground-breaking and transformative free SHS policy.”
“We should continue to guarantee access to affordable healthcare for all in every part of the country by continuing the National Health Insurance Scheme, expanding healthcare infrastructure and enhancing general health delivery,” President Akufo-Addo continued.
He also called for a concerted effort towards food security and the modernisation of agriculture, investing in value-added industrialised economy that depends on what it makes for local consumption and export of finished products, which generates more foreign exchange for development.
President Akufo-Addo also urged all and sundry to support efforts towards opening up all parts of our country through the construction of roads, rails and ports, and airports. More importantly, Ghanaians should embrace systems that pushes for accountability, efficiency and transparency in the delivery of public services, he noted.
He condemned the menace of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, and urged communities to expose key actors instead of shielding them.
All Is Not Lost – Count Your Blessings
Despite the current economic situation, the President assured that all was not lost hence, Ghanaians should “count our blessings in how together we are managing the difficulties.”
He recounted that, “We all see the images around the world, here in Ghana, we’ve not had any fuel queues, we’ve not suffered shortages of food and essential items, all the catastrophe of dumsor. Undoubtedly, major global developments have had a negative impact on our domestic economic performance.
“We’ve witnessed historic heights in global inflation and food prices. Rising global interests rate triggered by the tightening of monetary policy of central banks across several advanced economies; to tame rising inflation and energy crisis with crude oil prices reaching unprecedented heights at one point above $120 a barrel. The strengthening of the United States Dollar against all other currencies, the tightening of global financing condition especially for emerging markets and developing economies.”
These, he said, manifested in Ghana in the form of depreciation of our currency, the decline in growth of international reserves, high inflation, elevated debt burden, significant fiscal stress, constrained domestic and external financing and reduced GDP growth.
“It is these that have brought hardships on our people,” he stressed. That notwithstanding, “Government has deployed a number of fiscal measures to help bring relief to Ghanaians and I’m confident that sooner rather than later we’ll see significant relief and recovery,” he assured.
Mahama Boycotts Independence In Volta (World Bank)
Meanwhile, former President John Dramani Mahama refused to join the celebration in the Volta Region; an area noted as the stronghold, thus ‘World Bank’ of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that he intends to lead to win power in 2024.
More shocking is the fact that he had hurriedly launched his campaign in Ho, the Volta regional capital, to become the flagbearer of the NDC. He had also been touring the region the past week, preaching about how much being in opposition has taught him a lot of lesson on ways to serve the people better.
According to him, although he had been in the region campaigning, he left because he felt the organisers of the celebration have hijacked the independence celebration and made it a platform for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to have a jamboree.
Speaking in Accra on Sunday, March 5, Mr. Mahama said, “I just came from the Volta Region, and just when I was leaving, they were preparing to celebrate the Independence Day. I have stopped going to Independence Day because it has become a party jamboree. I went to Tamale and they told GBC to take the camera off me.”
“I said I don’t want to be part of this party jamboree,” he added.
From Fred Duodu, Adaklu-Tsrefe (k.duodu@yahoo.com)