President Nana Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo has decided to take his annual leave with effect from Saturday, November13, to Saturday, November 20, spanning a period of seven days.
The President’s decision was put out by the Director of Communications at the Jubilee House, Eugene Arhin, at a press briefing yesterday.
He said the President left Accra yesterday to lead a Ghanaian delegation to attend the 75th anniversary ceremony of the founding of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which is being held at its headquarters in Paris, France at the invitation of UNESCO’s Director General, Audrey Azoulay.
“President Akufo-Addo will from Saturday, 13th November to Saturday 20th November take a much-deserved, long-overdue 7-day leave of absence, during which he has also accepted an invitation to preside over the panel that will adjudicate a debate in the French parliament on the trial of progress on the 19th of November,” Mr. Arhin said.
He was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; the Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum; and officials of the Presidency and Foreign Ministry.
The President is expected back in Ghana on Saturday, November 20.
President Akufo-Addo took his first annual leave since assuming office in January 2017.
Vice President Bawumia will act in his stead as President in accordance with Article 60(8) of the Constitution. Nana Ampadu
Meanwhile, the President has decided to honour the late legendary high-life musician, Nana Kwame Ampadu, with a state-assisted burial in honour of his services to the growth of Ghanaian music.
This information will be duly communicated to the family of the late singer, and a befitting burial ceremony subsequently held.
Govt Record
Mr. Arhin also tackled a number of issues being raised in the country and defended the government’s record in the fight against corruption and protection of the public purse.
It follows recent claims by President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Reverend Philip Naameh, at the Catholic Bishops Conference held in Wa, Upper West Region, to the effect that “the expressed commitment of the President of the Republic to protect the public purse, a promise that citizens welcomed, seems to be an illusion now.”
Mr. Arhin said “in as much as this administration is extremely tolerant of divergent views, and welcomes criticisms of its work, we believe these criticisms should be well-founded and well-grounded in fact, as this is the only way an honest conversation, devoid of malice and propaganda, can be held.”
He said “the transformation that has taken place in all aspects of national life point to an economy that has been well-managed, a public purse that is being well-protected, and the benefits are showing.”
“Indeed, if President Akufo-Addo had superintended over the wanton dissipation of public funds, the Ghanaian people would not have reposed their confidence in him by returning a decisive margin of victory for him in the 2020 elections,” he said.
“Free SHS, which now guarantees a minimum of senior high school education for all Ghanaian children, and has already granted access to SHS to over 400,000 more children, would not have been possible if the public purse was not being protected. Planting for Food and Jobs, which has brought 1.5 million farmers into its orbit, who enjoy subsidised inputs of fertilisers, seeds, insecticides and other inputs, which has ensured that Ghana no longer imports food like tomatoes and plantain from neighbouring countries, but is rather a net exporter of food stuffs within the ECOWAS Community, would not have been possible if the public purse was not being protected,” he added.
That notwithstanding, he said “through the prudent use of public resources, 104 factories, through Government’s 1D1F initiative, are operating, and are providing jobs for thousands of unemployed youth. 150 more factories are under construction, and the remaining 24 are at the mobilisation stage, and would provide more jobs for residents of the districts, particularly our youth.”
Mr. Arhin therefore insisted that “if indeed the protection of the public purse was a mirage, the Akufo-Addo government would not have found the means to employ hundreds of thousands of teachers and medical professionals, who, before the coming into office of this administration, were sitting at home twiddling their thumbs.”
“NABCO, which has brought relief to some 100,000 graduates, would not have been feasible if the public purse was not being protected. The effective roll-out of the National Identification Card has seen some 15.6 million Ghanaians issued with identification cards, up from the 700,000 issued under the eight (8) years of the Mahama Government. This Government has found the resources to undertake the largest construction of road infrastructure in Ghana’s history,” he emphasised.
For him, these and others were part of reasons “Ghana, under President Akufo-Addo, has, recently, been adjudged as the best place to do business in West Africa.”
“Human memory may be short, but it cannot be so short that we have forgotten the free food, free electricity and free water that were provided, en masse, by Government to the most vulnerable in society during the height of the COVID pandemic last year,” the Director of Communications noted.
According to him, “the extensive measures taken by government during the crisis, which are still ongoing, went a long way to protecting the Ghanaian people, a feat that was widely acknowledged across the world,” and that “there were many who felt safer here, in Ghana, than in many so-called advanced countries because of the way government took control over the spread of the virus.”
He said that “government is currently engaged in paying up the energy legacy debts inherited, and we have cleared the GH¢1.2 billion NHIS debt we inherited. Presently, payments to NHIS service providers are current, adding “all of these could certainly not have been achieved by a government that has lost touch with the problems of Ghanaians, or by one that is presiding over the reckless dissipation of the public purse.”
In the midst of COVID-19, when most of the economies went into recession, he noted that Ghana was one of the very few economies that reported positive growth, adding that “high fuel prices, high freight charges, rising cost of living, are not Ghanaian phenomena, they are the order of the day across the globe, unfortunately.”
“Just as every country is confronted with these difficult challenges, largely as a result of the impact of COVID-19, Ghana, under President Akufo-Addo, is making every effort, through the Ghana CARES Obaatampa Programme, to alleviate the hardships brought forth by the pandemic,” he stated in defence.
“It is important to state that the Akufo-Addo government will continue to work for the development of Ghana, and help improve the standards of living of every Ghanaian,” he noted, and that “far from being out of touch, the Government is highly focused on delivering on its mandate.”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu