ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC,
NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO,
AT THE 67TH INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION ON
WEDNESDAY, 6TH MARCH 2024, AT THE YOUTH RESOURCE
CENTRE, KOFORIDUA, EASTERN REGION.
ON
“OUR DEMOCRACY, OUR PRIDE”
Fellow Ghanaians, let me start by welcoming our special guest of honour,
the redoubtable President of our western neighbour, the Republic of Cote
d’Ivoire, His Excellency Alassane Ouattara, to the formal celebrations of
the 67th anniversary of Ghana’s independence.
I thank the children from across the country for their excellent march. I
thank the cultural troupes from across the country on their magnificent
display, which has showcased the best of Ghanaian culture. I thank the
officers, men and women of the Ghana Armed Forces, the Police Service
and the other Security Services for their display of order, pomp and
ceremony. And I thank them all for their willingness to put their lives on
the line to secure the safety of our nation, the peace of our society, and
the sanctity of our property.
I am sure it is not too late for us to extend warm congratulations to you,
Monsieur le President, and your country on staging a most successful
AFCON, and the dramatic exploits of your national team that ended in
your winning the continental competition, and being crowned African
football champions. Congratulations to you, to Cote d’Ivoire, and to the
Elephants. As we all saw, the year begun with the victory of the Elephants.
I am afraid that, over here in Ghana, this is a competition we would much
rather not remember or even talk about, but Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are
good neighbours, and we cannot begrudge your excellent performance,
and learn from the many lessons that AFCON 2023 has to teach.
Welcome to Ghana, Monsieur le President, and thank you very much for
honouring our invitation, and joining us for our independence anniversary
celebrations. Ghana is your home, the relationship between our countries
is as it should be, for we share a common boundary, a common history
and a common culture, including common languages, and as we would
both say, akwaaba. We are greatly honoured by your presence, and we
pay homage to your distinguished leadership, pre-eminent in the annals of contemporary Africa, which has brought your country back from the
chaos of a painful civil war and its aftermath, to the stability and prosperity
that have been traditionally associated with Cote d’Ivoire.
The strong bonds of friendship and co-operation that have existed during
our respective tenures of office are evidenced by two key developments.
First is the Agreement for Strategic Partnership that was entered into by
President Ouattara and I, on 17th October 2017, during my first year at
the presidency, which has paid off, especially in the cocoa sector, by
enabling our two countries to co-ordinate our policies over cocoa, of which
we are the world’s biggest producers, accounting jointly for some sixty five percent (65%) of global output.
This has been of considerable benefit to our respective farmers, who have received the highest price per bag of cocoa in our respective histories. The other is the mature manner in which the maritime border dispute between our two countries was settled by the Maritime Court. The elevated stance of statesmanship shown by President Ouattara ensured that its result, in Ghana’s favour, was peacefully accommodated by Cote d’Ivoire.
My dear compatriots, fellow Ghanaians, the theme chosen for this year’s
Independence Day celebrations is “OUR DEMOCRACY, OUR PRIDE”,
and I welcome you all to Koforidua, the capital of the Eastern Region,
which is hosting the celebrations this year. The decision to rotate the
scene of the national celebrations around the country, instead of staging
them only in Accra, the national capital, has, certainly, turned out to be a
welcome, nation-building exercise, that helps to focus attention on a
different region every year, and, at the same time, rallies the nation
together.
Our host this year, the Eastern Region, was very much at the centre of
the independence struggle of our country – it is home to three (3)
members of the BIG SIX of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the
acknowledged founders of our nation, Joseph Boakye Danquah, Edward
Akufo-Addo and William Ofori-Atta. Their love of politics would seem to
have continued into succeeding generations with the son of one of them
being the current president of our country.
The other members of the Big Six were Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, Ebenezer Ako Adjei and Kwame Nkrumah, who, together with George Alfred ‘Paa’ Grant, R.S Blay, Cobbina Kessie, Francis Awonor Williams, Nii Kwabena Bonney, Boycott hene, and
others, were the successors of the early generation of nationalists, such
as the members of the Aborigines Rights Protection Society.
Their membership included Jacob Sey, George Moor, Joseph Casely Hayford,
John Mensah Sarbah, W.E.G (Kobina) Sekyi, J.W. de Graft-Johnson, J.P
Brown and others, who protected our lands from the grasp of the greedy
imperialists, and who initiated the first phase of our struggle for national
independence.
On such a day, we must also remember the contribution of Yaa
Asantewaa, James Aggrey Kwegyir, Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe,
Private Odartey Lamptey, V.B Annan, Jimmy Quist-Therson, Mabel Dove,
Akua Shorshorshor, Dede Ashikinshan, Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, Kojo
Botsio, Kofi Baako, Krobo Edusei, Nancy Tsiboe, Mumuni Bawumia, S.D.
Dombo, Kofi Abrefa Busia, Joe Appiah, Victor Owusu, R.R. Amponsah,
Baffuor Osei Akoto, Modesto Apaloo, S.G Antor, Yakubu Tali, Ephraim
Amu, to the liberation of our country, and to the birth of our democracy.
The work of all these great patriots culminated in the immemorial words
of our nation’s first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, when he stated, on the eve
of 6th March 1957, that “at long last, the battle has ended. Ghana, your
beloved country is free, free forever.”
Today, the Eastern Region is, of course, not the geographic east of Ghana,
but it retains the nomenclature from the colonial days, when it was the
eastern border of what was the Gold Coast colony. This Region is the most
heterogeneous in our country and a microcosm of Ghana, and home to
the most diverse of our peoples. Over the centuries, the Region has
attracted citizens from all parts of the country and beyond, who come to
work and find a welcome and lasting home.
The attraction is obviously the abundant mineral resources and the rich and fertile soils. It is, after all, only a few kilometres from here that the first cocoa farm in the country was planted in 1895, some one hundred and twenty-nine (129) years ago,
and from there the planting of cocoa spread to other parts of the country,
and became our leading cash crop.
Indeed, Tetteh Quarshie, an indigene of Mampong Akuapem, here in the Eastern Region, brought back, in the late 19th century, the cocoa pod from Fernando Po, now Bioko, in Equatorial Guinea, an act which led him and others to establish our
nation’s first commercial cocoa farms here in the Eastern Region.
It is noteworthy that the hills and mountains of the Region, and the
relatively cooler weather, made it attractive to the European colonialists
and missionaries, whose footprints remain around the Region. It is not
surprising, therefore, that the Region is home to many educational
institutions, including the first middle school and first training college in the country – both in Akropong. The old and beautiful stone churches along the scenic mountain road of the Akuapem hills remain an attraction.
It must surely be, as a result of Akuapem Twi being the first Ghanaian
language to have been written, that the culture and mannerisms of the
people became adopted in the formal recognition and rendition of
Ghanaian culture. When we say it is part of Ghanaian culture to be
respectful in conversations, I daresay the source must be the legendary
Akuapem insistence that even an insult must be preceded with a PLEASE.
They remain the repository of the rules of proper behaviour.
It is here, in the Eastern Region, that we find the beautiful and intricate
beadworks that are defining features of Ghanaian jewellery. The Krobos
are the masters of the ancient art, and have modernised it to make beads
attractive not only to the old, but also to the present generation as well.
The Eastern Region is also the home of the Kwahus, Ghana’s
unquestioned leading entrepreneurs, and an example to all of us of what
private enterprise can achieve.
It is, furthermore, the home of the Akyems, the single biggest ethnic
group in the Region, who founded one of the most ancient states of
Ghana’s history, with an unbroken record of chiefly government, dating
from the 14th century till today.
I have mentioned some specific groups that make up the Eastern Region,
but, as I stated earlier, it is a Region where the whole of Ghana merges
into a melting pot and lives in harmony, and different groups feed on the
strengths of each other for the good of the whole. This is the same
scenario that is played on the national scale, where different people have
come together to form the Ghanaian nation and a national identity for the
past sixty-seven (67) years.
Fellow Ghanaians, we have good reason to choose as our theme and to
celebrate OUR DEMOCRACY, OUR PRIDE at the 67th anniversary of
our independence.
We are a democratic nation, and not every country can make such a claim.
It is important to note that the democratic system of government we have
today was not given to us at independence; more than a hundred years
(100) of British rule had not prepared us in any way for democracy, there is nothing democratic about colonial rule, and, whatever we have today, we have worked out for ourselves.
All the defining elements of a democracy, that are part of our governance
architecture today, we have had to fabricate ourselves. Everything we
know about elections today, and we know quite a bit, we have learnt
through hard practice, and, in the past thirty-one (31) years, we have
been stable.
We have not got a perfect system, but, every time we have had elections
during this 4th Republic, it has been an improvement on the previous
occasion.
We still have a lot more to learn especially when it comes to the tolerance
of opposing views. But we also know that we dare not relapse, as there
are many examples of countries that have disintegrated into chaos as a
result of disputed elections.
We know that technology is a useful tool that we must embrace to make
the electoral process more transparent, but we are very much aware that
technology also now makes it possible and easier for the deliberate
manipulation and propagation of falsehood to influence public opinion.
When it comes to free speech and a vigorous media as indicators of a
working democracy, I believe we can say we are doing well. There is no
danger of dissenting voices not being heard on any subject, even though
we still have more work to do on elevating the quality of public discourse.
We take our disputes to the courts for resolution, and the judicial system
operates within agreed and acceptable rules.
When we look around our neighbourhood, we might be tempted to think
that our work is done, but we, Ghanaians, have never been known to
settle for mediocrity. We aim for the best in every field. We should
compare ourselves with the best that there is, and not settle for anything
less. For as long as there is poverty and injustice anywhere in Ghana, our
work is not done.
On a day like this, we should pay homage, of course, as I have done, to
our forebears and the elders who fought for independence, and worked
through the years to establish all that we have to be proud of today, but our attitude should always be that there are better days ahead, and work towards that, instead of yearning for some bygone good old days.
The greatest challenge remains the provision of good quality education to
all of Ghana’s children and young people. We have a lot to be proud of,
but we have more work to do. I am happy that, through the
implementation of the Free Senior High School policy, we are removing
financial barriers to education, unlocking the potential of thousands of
young Ghanaians, and laying the foundation for a brighter future for our
country.
This year, we have seen the highest ever enrolment of first year
students into senior high school in our nation’s history, that is five hundred
and three thousand (503,000) students, a clear indication of the
widespread embrace of the Free Senior High School Policy.
We should be able to offer every Ghanaian child the best education there
can be, and, having completed High School, our children should be
equipped with skills that make them prepared to face the modern world.
Our schools must prepare our children to be comfortable with Science and
Technology, and ready to compete in the modern economy.
Fellow Ghanaians, there is more to preparing a child to face the world
than what can be taught in a classroom, and there is certainly more to
moulding a Ghanaian child than what our hard-working teachers do every
day.
Too many parents have relinquished the entire responsibility of bringing
up children to what happens in schools. I do not refer only to our music,
dance, food, language and fashion that form the basis of our cultural
identity; I refer to the values that set us apart as Ghanaians.
If we are to take pride in being Ghanaian, there should be a consensus
on the values we hold dear, and we should transmit them to every
generation.
Fellow Ghanaians, I know that we have gone through difficult economic
circumstances, but it is clear that we have overcome the worst, and we
should be looking forward to better times. I wish to make reference in particular to two projects coming on stream that should make a great difference to the economic fortunes of the country.
I refer to the successful selection of strategic partners that will work with
the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) to
build a new alumina refinery, and develop mines at Nyinahin-Mpasaaso
as three (3) of four (4) projects being executed under the Integrated
Aluminium Industry (IAI) projects.
I have witnessed the signing of two (2) separate agreements in Accra
recently, firstly, between GIADEC, a wholly-owned public entity, and
Rocksure International, a wholly-owned private Ghanaian company,
selected, after a rigorous process, as a strategic partner to develop a mine
at Nyinahin-Mpassaso; and, secondly, between GIADEC and Mytilineos
SA, a leading global industrial and energy company, which entails the
development of a second mine at Nyinahin-Mpasaaso, and the
establishment of a refinery. We are finally coming to the end of decades
of exporting raw bauxite from the country.
We shall now refine bauxite, mined in Ghana, to produce alumina that will feed the VALCO smelter and the downstream aluminium industry, which is going to have a dramatic impact on Ghanaian industrialisation, when we produce parts for motor
vehicles, air crafts, roofing sheets and home utensils. It has taken a long
time for us to get to this stage, but we have taken the trouble to make
sure that we get it right. As an indigene, it is my hope that, once litigation
over the Atewa Forest Range, in Kyebi, is settled, we will be able to
develop also the Kyebi bauxite mine and refinery, that will help deliver
employment and high paying jobs for our people, and also ensure
integration and value addition across the bauxite/aluminium value chain.
The other major project that is coming on stream, which is bound to make
a dramatic change to the economy, is the Ada Songhor Salt project, being
spearheaded by Electrochem Salt Mine Ltd, led by the dynamic Ghanaian
entrepreneur, Mr. Daniel McKorley, aka McDan. After many years of
disputes, which prevented the exploitation of salt at the site, work has
finally started and salt will be mined on a large commercial scale.
With its initial ability to produce some six hundred and fifty thousand
metric tons (650,000 MT) of salt per annum, and expanding its productive
capacity to one million metric tonnes this year, and to two million metric
tonnes by 2027, at ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-percent (99.99%) purity,
the Electrochem Salt Mine will be the biggest salt producing facility in
Africa. These are figures that should spell a significant change in the
economy, and cheer us up.
I am optimistic that, together with other initiatives of this Government,
we are on the verge of a breakthrough in our economic fortunes.
I must mention another important ingredient in the democratic structure,
which is needed for economic prosperity, which is the rule of law.
Businesses can only prosper in an atmosphere that guarantees the rule of
law.
My compatriots, the rule of law is not an alien concept, and it is not
something that can be applied selectively. For it to be effective, and have
a positive influence, it must be applicable to all aspects of our lives, and
to all of us; on the streets, in offices and work places; to junior officials,
and Chief Executives, to traditional leaders and Members of Parliament,
to famous artistes and footballers and, yes, to the President.
We cannot hope for economic prosperity without adhering to the rule of
law. There are a few amongst us who equate the freedom that was
proclaimed at the arrival of independence with the freedom to ignore the
rules and regulations that should guide our lives. Aspirations for prosperity
go hand-in-hand with the discipline necessary for the rule of law.
Fellow Ghanaians, on the day we celebrate our nationhood, we cannot
and should not leave out a reference to the physical state of the land that
constitutes Ghana. We cannot claim to love Ghana when we treat with
such disdain and total careless abandon, the forests, the rivers, the
vegetation, the creatures and the soils that make up Ghana.
The Almighty has been kind and generous to us, and our beautiful land
deserves to be treated with tender loving care. Unless we change how we
treat the land, future generations would not recognise the Ghana they
read about in the land we bequeath to them.
I stay firm in my conviction that extracting the minerals we have been
blessed with should not lead to the destruction of the forests and rivers.
We should dedicate ourselves anew to taking care of Ghana.
I must, at this stage, reaffirm Government’s continued commitment to providing the support for victims of the recent, extensive flooding in downstream communities, in the Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta Regions, caused by the spillage of the Akosombo Dam last year – a necessary action which was taken to maintain the dam’s structural integrity. As set out in the 2024 budget, Government has set aside two hundred and twenty million cedis (GH¢220 million), of which eighty million cedis (GH¢80 million) has already been released by the Ministry of Finance, to support the ongoing rehabilitation efforts for the affected communities. Government will stop at nothing to restore normalcy to the lives and livelihoods of all affected persons.
Fellow Ghanaians, on Friday, 8th March, the 13th African Games will be
officially opened in Accra, and we shall be playing host to fifty-three (53)
African nations, that will participate in the Games. We have gone to a lot
of trouble and expense to be able to stage the Games, and we are
expecting them to be successful.
I am looking at our guest of honour, President Alassane Ouattara, and I
wonder if I should draw some parallels. He has also just staged the AFCON
2023, which was postponed to 2024, instead of the scheduled 2023. The
Games here too should have been held in 2023, but were postponed to
2024.
Football tends to attract more attention and, therefore, the AFCON in Cote
d’Ivoire dominated the headlines for the one month it took place.
The Ivorian national team, the Elephants, defied all odds, and won the
competition. I am not promising a Ghana clean sweep of track and field
events. That would be a miracle, but I am promising a happy and exciting
month for all our visitors.
We, in Ghana, know how to set the lead. We did it in 1957, when we were
the first African nation in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from
colonial bondage. We have got other firsts with doubtful boasts, but we
have always managed to get out of difficult situations with amazing grace.
We owe it to ourselves and to the rest of Africa to be that shining black
star.
We owe it to ourselves and to the rest of Africa to continue to have
a democracy of which we can be proud. And we owe it to ourselves and
to the rest of Africa to be a prosperous nation, and we shall get there.
Happy 67th Independence Day Celebration to all of us, and may God bless
us all and our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong.
I thank you all for your attention
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