ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
But I do not know how to assure personal integrity in others beyond a plea to good sense, morality and fairness.
However, I do believe that entrenching a culture of the defence of truth and the reward of integrity in anti-corruption law enforcement institutions and the judiciary along the trajectory of my musings will cascade to the individual officers of these institutions.
This is because the deviant would stick out sorely and be easily exposed.
May we get there.
May it be soon enough.
And may we tighten the noose firmly around corruption
President of All Nations University Our Keynote Speaker, Professor Kwesi K. Adarkwa, former Vice-Chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Council Members Present Members of Convocation Nananom Faculty and Staff Present The First Graduation Class from a Fully-Fledged University Distinguished Special Guests and Invitees Members of the Media Ladies and Gentlemen.
We are thankful to the Almighty, the Most High, for the grant of the Presidential Charter for the University to award degrees and diplomas.
The theme for this ceremony, Mentorship, and Institutional Development for Quality Higher Education in Ghana, is timely and relevant, coming at a time when the University has attained a charter status and the country is redefining its development agenda, and especially within the period the entire African continent is exploring the role of innovative learning systems due to the outbreak of a pandemic which challenges our old ways of mentoring and providing quality education to our students.
Founded in 1997, the All Nation University (ANU) began as a modest knowledge-bearing institution in Koforidua by admitting and training students from the four corners of Ghana and beyond.
After attaining a fully-fledged University status and becoming the first Ghanaian University and the first private University in Africa to build and launch a satellite (GhanaSat-1) deployed from the International Space Station into outer space on 17th July 2017, the University is no longer modest.
It has a large vision of the role it can play in the development of Ghana and Africa.
As a science and technology University, it is directed by a vision that will put science and technology in the service of the people and the development of Ghana and the African continent.
We believe that a fully-fledged ANU will enable the University fulfil its mission, diversify and meet the changing needs of the country in teaching excellence, research and research training, and keep pace with the increasingly competitive international university sector.
Our goal is to reposition the University as a strategic force for the development and dissemination of innovation, pacesetting leadership and critical thinking in Africa.
We need to transform the University into a 21st century knowledge centre and global laboratory of development planning where ideas are shopped for Ghana and Africa’s development.
Above all, we need to take inspiration from the award-winning Root-based development model, which has been successfully implemented in New Juaben, to make real and significant impact on the communities in New Juaben, Ghana and Africa.
A clear pathway to achieve these goals is through the collective efforts by all of us, to work relentlessly and assiduously towards their attainment.
Chairman, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, economic theory and practice teaches us that, technological progress based on home-grown development models is what drives growth and development in the long run.
Growth, in turn, generates the wealth that enables us to address the fundamental challenges confronting society in general, the challenge of poverty and malnutrition, the challenge of illiteracy, the challenge of unemployment and underemployment, the challenge of infant mortality, and a host of other challenges.
Home-grown development models are likely to lead to innovation in finding solutions to contemporary challenges confronting us.
History teaches us that without such an approach, we will make little progress in our development initiative.
It has now become clearer that there cannot be any meaningful development without the active participation of the citizenry, particularly as governments alone cannot meet all the competing societal demands on a timely basis.
The current global consensus on development favours a Home-Grown Strategy rather than economic blueprints from the World Market.
There is therefore the need to harness the potential role of the traditional governance system in the socio-economic, environmental and geo-political development of our dear nation for sustainable community development.
The Root-based model has been creatively designed for the Traditional States to play a complementary role to Government and the private sector in sustainable community development in Africa.
With a well-implemented community development model replicated throughout the Traditional Areas in Ghana and the communities therein, poverty, insecurity and inequalities in the country would be substantially reduced.
This would then form the basis upon which Ghana can make a significant stride towards the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development goals.
As Chancellor, I intend to propose to the University Administration the establishment of a Center for Indigenous Development (CID) which will directly impact on the communities and beyond.
The Development in Unity Trilogy and the book on “Implementing the Root-based Development’, scheduled for publication in December 2020, will form the foundational resource base for the Center which will serve as the base for exporting Ghana’s flagship Development Planning model to the rest of the continent.
With this few remarks, it is my pleasure to add my voice to that of the President and his able council members to welcome you to this historic occasion.
I am hopeful and optimistic about the future of this institution.
Once again let me extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you, especially, our guest speaker, Prof.
Adarkwa for making time to grace this occasion.
OWUSU AFRIYIE AKOTO ON THE OCCASION OF THE 2021 RE: AKOTO MEMORIAL LECTURES The Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siribour II, Juabenhen; The Chief Justice, My Lord Kwasi Anin-Yeboah; The Former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Michael Aaron Ocquaye; The Director of the Ghana School of Law and Faculty; The Vice Chancellor, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Faculty; General Secretary and Regional Chairmen of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); Nananom; Members of the Media, Students, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The family of Baffour Osei Akoto is most grateful to the Ghana School of Law for the opportunity provided by this platform to discuss the life and works of my late father and his contribution to the development of our dear country, Ghana.
Over the past 16 years, since the inception of this all important lecture series, many high profile State officials and distinguished academics have provided stimulating lectures on this platform.
The contributors include the President of the Republic His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Professor K. Date-Bah, Nana Dr.
B Asante, the late Peter Ala Adjetey, the late Prof.
A.K.P Kludze, Prof.
Ebow Bondzi-Simpson, Prof.
Raymond Atuguba and the current Director of Legal Education at the Ghana School of Law, Mr.
Maxwell Opoku Agyemang.
Indeed, the focus of the lectures has been the case of fundamental Human Rights involving Baffour Osei Akoto and Seven others.
They had been detained under the Preventive Detention Act (Act 1958), as political prisoners in the condemned cells of the Nsawam Medium Security Prison on the 11th of November, 1959.
A case of Habeas Corpus was argued in the Supreme Court of Ghana by no less a figure than Dr.
J. B Danquah in 1961.
This case has become a cause celebre and has taken the title of the Annual Lectures organised by this distinguished legal institution.
The fact that the Law School, in this year’s commemoration chose to lift the veil and to showcase the personality behind the famous case is something that the family of Baffour Akoto is very grateful for.
This is because the man we are talking about played a major role in both the cultural and political development of Ghana we know today.
He was a cultural icon of no mean reputation when it came to traditional Akan law and Chieftaincy Affairs.
Indeed it can be argued that his contribution in these aspects of Ghanaian life was even more significant than the case law that has taken his name.
Today, I intend to use a broad brush to paint the outline of a picture of the enormous contribution that Baffour Osei Akoto made to the development of both the culture and politics of modern Ghana.
I will attempt to do so under three main headings – his family life, his role as a Chief at the court of three successive Asante Kings spanning nearly seven decades from 1935-2002 and last but not the least, his contribution to the development of our politics today through the leadership role he played in the mid-50s which continues to reverberate in our current political dispensation.
By doing justice to the topic chosen for the presentation this afternoon, we are reminding ourselves that a life well lived will always be remembered.
It is incumbent on us, therefore, to give our utmost in the service of country and humanity.
The traits that characterised Baffour’s life and works are meant to portray to the citizenry, in particular the youth, a model of the contributions expected of them to make Ghana a better nation.
In his inaugural speech as President of Ghana on 7 January 2017, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo mentioned Baffour Akoto and others as legends whose efforts and sacrifices ensured the freedom of the Ghanaian state.
In that speech, the President noted: Baffour Osei Akoto and others, who taught us that fidelity to principles, courage, patience, resilience and collective action, do yield results.
They fought with intelligence, guts, steely determination and patriotism to liberate our land and reclaim our worth as human beings.
Their love for country continues to inspire generations of us to commit our lives to the search for an enduring democratic legacy for Ghana 1.
FAMILY ORIGINS Baffour Osei Akoto, the cultural icon and politician, was a quintessential Ghanaian who personified patriotism.
He was born on 22nd February 1904 and passed on to eternal glory on 3rd September 2002.
His father, Nana Owusu Sekyere, Chief of Ankaase in the Kwabre District near Kumasi was the grandson of Asantehene Osei Asibey Bonsu (1800-1824).
His mother, Obaapanin Akosua Apeaa of Kwabre Heman, was the great granddaughter of Asantehene Osei Yaw Akoto.
So he was born a true Asante Royal and named Osei Akoto.
He took on the noble Asante title “Baffour” when he ascended to the Butuakwa and Appiah Kyeame stool in 1935.
The stool was endowed with the title “Baffour” when it was created by Asantehene Osei Asibey Bonsu around 1810.
Baffour Osei Akoto was a strong personality imbued with leadership qualities.
He was endowed with a magnetic influence that drew people of diverse backgrounds in terms of social standing, education, ethnicity, religious persuasion, etc.
Although he did not have much formal education, he deployed his indigenous knowledge and wisdom so effectively that he was able to weave together a strong team of highly educated personalities from notable professions such as the law, academia and engineering into a formidable political force to influence the direction of our politics in the 1950s (see later).
BAFFOUR AKOTO AS A FAMILY MAN Two aspects of Asante traditional culture influenced the family life of Baffour Osei Akoto.
These are the matrilineal system of Asante culture and the practice of chieftancy.
The matrilineal system meant that as head of the Abusua he was socially and financially responsible for all members on the maternal side of the extended family including his sisters, maternal nephews and nieces, the grandnephews and grandnieces.
And there were scores of them.
Yet he took responsibility for all aspects of their wellbeing including their welfare, marriage life, education etc.
Indeed in the early 1950s he personally financed a nephew and niece to sojourn in England to read law and medicine.
That was how committed he was to his matrilineal family and to education.
As the occupant of the Butuakwa and Appiah Kyeame stool, he had stool wives.
He also had wives outside the stool.
These together produced thirty-six (36) children and yours sincerely is NUMBER EIGHTEEN (18th).
He was very committed to the upbringing, education and careers of his children.
He educated his children in the best schools and was keen to ensure that they entered lucrative professions and embarked on careers that would stand them in good stead in their future lives.
This has produced a whole range of professions among my siblings – from law, accountancy, journalism, politics, writers, business to academia.
His six years of incarceration under the Preventive Detention Act temporarily prevented him from carrying out his responsibility to both the extended and immediate family.
But he resumed these responsibilities when he gained his freedom after the 1966 coup d’état which overthrew the Nkrumah regime.
Apart from his commitment to his family he also assisted in nurturing the families of his friends and colleagues.
He treated the children of his friends like his own and mentored many who later in life made such an enormous contribution to the development of this country.
Baffour was the Executor of the Will of his great friend Mr Kobina Annan, the father of the late Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations.
It was Baffour who paved the way for former President His Excellency Agyekum Kufuor, his stepson, to enter politics by becoming the Progress Party’s candidate for Atwuma Nwabiagya Constituency.
He replaced Mr B.F.
Kusi who had won the seat in a famous by-election for the National Liberation Movement (NLM) in 1956.
As a child, Otumfuor Osei Tutu II was also no stranger to our home as a neighbour in Ashanti New Town and as a classmate and friend to my siblings.
These are the most famous ones.
But he nurtured and mentored many others.
It should be emphasised that Baffour Osei Akoto was a true-blue Ashanti who was proud of his ancestry but he was not tribalistic.
He equally cherished Ghana’s rich cultural diversity and considered it a strength for the country.
He spoke perfect Kano Hausa which he learnt while plying his trade across the country as a motor mechanic in his youth.
He did not only work closely with people all over the country on the political front but also encouraged inter-ethnic marriage.
He arranged for his blood sister Madam Yaa Ayiwa to marry to his friend Chief S D Dombo, a Dagau from Duori in the Upper West Region.
Today, the occupant of the Duori Skin, Na Tikai Dombo, is a son of Dombo and Ayiwa and for that matter a nephew of Baffour Akoto.
BAFFOUR AKOTO AS A CHIEF AND SOCIALITE Baffour was a prescient person who considered culture as the foundation of human development.
He, therefore, promoted Asante culture as he occupied the prestigious office of advisor and spokesperson (Okyeame) to the Asantehene.
The significance of the role of Baffour Osei Akoto and hence his legacy in chieftaincy affairs can only be appreciated in the context of the history of Asante in Ghana and West Africa.
Asante history offers examples of heroes and heroines who made immolations for the sustenance of the Asante nation, and those examples were a guiding light for Baffour.
He was, therefore, prepared to pursue at length fairness, equity and justice.
Even when he was offered he opportunity of release from prison in exchange for abandoning his political beliefs, he chose to remain incarcerated because his freedom would be on the condition that he could no longer defend the defenceless.
We may view the contributions of Baffour by looking at Ashanti history in two broad phases.
The first phase was the period from the formation of the nation by King Osei Tutu and his friend the legendary Okomfo Anokye in the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century (1900).
The sovereignty of the Asante Kingdom ended following the defeat of Asante by the British in the Yaa Asantewaa War of 1900.
The Asantehene Otumfuo Agyemang Prempeh I was exiled to Seychelles Island in the Indian Ocean where he was kept by the British from 1896 – 1924.
The second phase of Ashanti history begun with the reign of Otumfuo Osei Agyemang Prempeh II (Asantehene: 1935 – 1970) who succeeded Prempeh I. The latter, upon his return from exile in 1925 remained as Kumasihene until he went to the village in 1931.
It was during the reign of Otumfuo Prempeh II (Kumasihene: 1931 –1935/Asantehene: 1935 – 1970) under whom the Ashanti Confederacy was restored in 1935, that the office of the Asantehene was reinstated.
That period marked the beginning of the second phase of Asante history.
It is worthy of note that Baffour Akoto was enstooled as Okyeame at the time of the restoration of Asanteman and Otumfuor Prempeh II indeed started his reign with Baffour.
Okyeame Akoto, as he was popularly known, served all the Asante kings, including the current occupant of the Golden Stool, Otumfuor Osei Tutu II.
It should be placed on record that the office of the Okyeame is not only about being the spokesperson of the King.
The Okyeame, in fact, is the closest officer and advisor to the King.
He may even enter the King’s bedroom without prior permission.
The Okyeame is the ear, nose, mouth and legs of the King.
Otumfuor has twelve akyeame, each in his own right occupies his family stool created to serve the occupant of the Golden Stool in the role of Okyeame.
In the more than six decades of his service to Asanteman, Baffour did a lot to help in promoting Asanteman and Ghana as a whole, as His Majesty Otumfuor Osei Tutu II eloquently expressed in his tribute to Baffour on his passing in 2002: Baffour excelled in his career as an Asante diplomat, a valuable repository of Asante and Ghanaian social, cultural and political history, and a defender of the power of traditional leadership in the face of the onslaught of modern post-colonial politics in Ghana.
Although a traditional ruler, Baffour Akoto was a keen sports enthusiast; in particular football.
He never missed his Sunday football matches at the Jackson’s Park in the early years and later the Kumasi Sports Stadium.
He chaired the Board of Kumasi Asante Kotoko in the 1940s and is reputed to have given them the red colour for their jersey.
In 1951, he paid to accompany the national football team on their first visit to England.
On that trip he travelled a First Class on the “SS Apapa” and brought back lots of gifts to the family on his return to Kumasi.
Baffour had a circle of close friends who enjoyed the good life to the full.
They socialised at weekends and on public holidays with garden parties, dances and Black Tie events.
White Horse Scotch whisky Cuban cigars, West Indian Calypso and the Gold Coast highlife (E. T. Mensah etc) were the order of the day.
The friends were a mixture of entrepreneurs, businessmen, Senior Colonial Officials and administrators.
They included Mr Collingwoode Williams, Mr Kobina Annan, Mr A Acolatse and several other prominent personalities in Kumasi.
I mention these activities to illustrate the point that before entering politics, the life of Baffour transcended traditional boundaries onto modern evolving lifestyles.
No wonder the spillage of his activities into the emerging politics of the day.
Baffour Akoto, like many other legendary Ashanti heroes and heroines, had to make some sacrifices to save the Ashanti nation.
These included loss of his stool and position as Okyeame.
It came as a bombshell on the fateful day of 12 January 1961, when the Asantehene Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II announced that Baffour who was languishing in prison had been destooled and his Butuakwa and Appea Stool abolished.
Many were those who wondered how such a big blow could be dealt someone who had all his life fought to maintain the dignity and sustenance of the Golden Stool and Asanteman.
But Otumfuo, the Asantehene, knew that Baffour would save the Golden Stool at all cost.
This was at a time when Nkrumah had declared that chiefs would run away and leave their sandal behind.
And when the CPP Government had threatened to break up Asanteman.
So, if destooling Baffour was a decision that would avoid such a confrontation to save Asanteman, then why not?
The good news was that the Butuakwa and Appea Kyeame Stool was reinstated and Baffour was reinstalled as the occupant of the stool after the overthrow of the Nkrumah regime in February 1966.
The status and privileges of the stool and its occupant were also elevated.
Baffour’s office was accorded the special privilege reserved for senior officers in Asanteman.
These included the permitting him to swear the oath of allegiance with the Mponponsuo Sword instead of the Ahwehwebaa Sword.
It can be said of Baffour, therefore, that he exemplified the concept of sacrifice, which is replete in Asante history with a legend like Nana Tweneboa Kodua of Kumawu, who sacrificed his very life to save the Ashanti nation.
Another lesson exhibited by Baffour was that in line with his deep knowledge of Akan custom, when his stool was abolished, he never contested it.
He did not make any attempt to question the action of the Asantehene.
In Akan custom, deference is accorded the elderly and occupants of higher offices.
In line with that principle, when someone is pronounced guilty at the chief’s court, they are required to thank the chief and the elders.
That is in recognition and appreciation of their wise decision.
BAFFOUR IN POLITICS Who is a statesman?
According to Cambridge Dictionary, a Statesman is ‘An experienced politician, especially one who is respected for making good judgment.’
Baffour’s involvement in politics was short.
His political career was mainly from 1954 to 1957.
But it is said that the strength and greatness of a leader are not measured by the longevity of the time during which they are at the pinnacle of power.
It is the impact of their office that matters.
The legacy of Baffour Akoto as a politician, and for that matter a statesman, finds expression in the very constitution with which our country is being governed today.
Notable amongst them is Article Three (1), which provides that ‘Parliament shall have no power to enact a law establishing a one-party state.’
I should emphasise that, amongst the prime purposes of Baffour Akoto in politics was to help prevent dictatorship in Ghana.
He was anxious that if people who loved freedom sat on the fence, Ghana would one day become a One-Party State; an anxiety which eventually materialised.
Had he and his ideological allies like J B Danquah and K A Busia and others not persisted the way they did, the negative impact of the One-Party State as was introduced in 1958 would have been much graver.
Baffour and his colleagues, who now constitute the ancestry of the United Party tradition, were of the considered view that One-Party rule for Ghana, in the light of our traditions, was a step backward from the wisdom of our ancestors.
And that where one head constitutes a council, there can only be folly and disorder as Dr Busia observed.
The case for monolithic one-party rule cannot be based on our tradition.
It should also be noted that the traditional systems provided alternatives from which to choose; and heads, whether of families, or tribes, or chiefdoms, could be changed by those whom they represented.
If we care to learn from our past, we shall find pointers to the solution of our contemporary problems of government, central as well as local.
We had foundations for a democratic system of government.
On the invitation of some Ashanti youths and with the support of Asanteman, Baffour founded and led a political movement, the National Liberation Movement (NLM), which eventually became a very formidable alternative political party to the then ruling Convention People’s Party, and which was joined by stalwarts like J B Danquah, K A Busia.