Emotional Nancy Patricia Pelosi, Speaker of United States House of Representative, yesterday told Parliament that justice is the foundation of hope and that the world must ensure that every person particularly the youth get hope in the future.
Addressing Ghana’s Parliament to round off a four-day visit by U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, the US House of Representative Speaker, who was almost swept off her feet by emotions after her visit to the Cape Coast and Elmina castles, said there should be economic justice, social justice and environmental justice for all irrespective of one’s race, creed, belief and social status.
She said she expects Ghana, the first African country south of the Sahara with “Freedom and Justice” as its motto, to lead the crusade of ensuring justice for all in all spheres of life.
“We must create educational and economic opportunities that allow every student and worker to climb the ladders of opportunity especially for women and girls,” she said.
Tracing the genesis of the socio-economic and cultural relationship between Ghana and the United States of America, the US Speaker of House of Representatives said Ghana played a pivotal role in America’s civil rights movement, standing as the spiritual symbol and a source of great hope in the fight against discrimination and segregation.
She said, on the other hand, America is also firmly committed to economic progress in Ghana, a commitment enshrined and advanced through the cause of the Millennium Challenge partnership and in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
“Together our governments must continue to support smart development strategies that spur sustainable economic growth and lift up all families in Ghana and Africa.
“Our friendship endures because of our security cooperation to keep the world safe. It endures because of our history, as we mark the ‘Year of Return’ and it will endure because of our future,” she said stressing that the visit by the Congressional Black Caucus to Ghana will even forge even firmer ties between America and Ghana.
She said there was the need for African countries to diversify their economies and encourage trade throughout the continent so that Ghana as a leader in intra-African trade can create the regional security and stability necessary to achieve prosperity across West Africa.
Speaker Pelosi became very emotional in the course of her speech to Parliament as she narrated their first experience to the Cape Coast and Elmina castles, where the ancestors of African Americans were kept and first sent into slavery in the US 400 years ago.
“…At Elmina Castle, we saw the dungeons in which thousands were entrapped and at the Cape Coast Castle, we stood before the ‘Door of No Return’ where countless millions caught their last glimpse of Africa before being shipped to a life of enslavement,” she said with a trembled voice and a lot of emotions.
The Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye, thanked her and her delegation for their visit and for forging greater relationship between the Parliament of Ghana and Congress of US.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr