ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
In times of difficulties, there would be those who would seek to exploit the situation in order to jeopardise the hard-won reputation of our country as a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, and, indeed, in the world, in order to gratify their personal ambitions.
Their ambitions show little or no respect for the capacity of the Ghanaian people to change their government peacefully through the ballot box, something they have done on three (3) separate occasions in the thirty (30) year life of the 4th Republic.
The great majority of us, who are committed to democratic values and democratic institutions, must continue to resist the claims of these adventurers, and employ all legitimate means in a democracy to maintain our free, open system of governance, which is respectful of human rights, the rule of law and the principles of democratic accountability.
My Government and I’s respect for fundamental human rights, which are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic, includes respect for the right of association, which entitles every citizen to join any lawful association of his or her choice.
That includes the right to join trades unions, and, so long as I am President, we will continue to uphold that right.
And I will do my part to ensure the completion of the review of the Labour Law.
I need the active co-operation of Organised Labour to ensure that the right is respected.
In response to the appeal by the Secretary-General to intensify efforts at bringing peace to Bawku, I want to assure him and, indeed, the nation at large, that there is no higher priority for Government on the agenda of national security than the resolution of the Bawku conflict.
Not only are we enhancing, as we speak, the security deployment in the area to promote more strongly the rule of law, and hold accountable all who violate law and order in the area, we are also intensifying the efforts to find a solution to the customary tensions that underline the Bawku conflict, so that, hopefully, a final resolution of that conflict can be attained, just as it has been attained in Dagbon.
Nothing will give me greater pleasure, in the concluding days of my presidency, than to help bring lasting peace to Bawku.
May God grant me the wisdom to achieve that outcome.
In conclusion, I celebrate you, our gallant workers, once again, for your hard work, selflessness, sacrifice, patriotism and commitment to the development of our beloved nation.
Your contributions will be duly recognised and rewarded, and I urge you to remain steadfast and focused in your pursuit of excellence.
On this august occasion, I appeal to all Ghanaians, including Organised Labour, to continue to build on the good rapport and excellent relations that exist among us.
The peace we enjoy today should never be taken for granted, and we should cherish every single moment that allows us to advance our development, progress and prosperity, in conditions of peace and stability.
I assure you of Government’s utmost support and co-operation.
I thank you for your attention, and congratulations to all awardees.
Long Live Trade Union Solidarity!
Long Live Organised Labour!!
May God bless Organised Labour, and us all, and may God bless our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong.
President John Mahama has called on African countries to invest boldly in skills, industrial capacity and unity, warning that the continent risks underdevelopment in a fast-changing global economy if it fails to act decisively.
Addressing global political and business leaders at the Accra Reset Davos Convening Event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Thursday, January 22, President Mahama said the world was entering “an era where countries must compete, innovate, and build or be left behind ”.
Read full text below: Your Excellencies and my disWnguished colleagues, friends, and partners in global transformaWon.
Let me begin by thanking the World Economic Forum for creating space for this Session, and to our various Strategic Partners, not least the African Development Bank, Global Fund, AfroChampions, Georgetown University, and the Rockefeller Foundation, for stepping forward at a moment when the world’s health and development systems are being tested by disruption, conflict, and a new atmosphere of intellectual retreat.
Of course, my appreciation goes to the Guardians’ Circle of the Accra Reset, led by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Alliance for African Multilateral Financial Institutions and the Confederation of Indian Industry.
This aXernoon, I stand before you as an African leader born in the heady days of post-independence Africa.
Growing up, I could feel the excitement of my parents and their generaWon about the possibiliWes of our newly won freedom and the right to manage our own aﬀairs.
My country, Ghana, will celebrate its 70th anniversary of independence from colonial rule in March next year.
In the relaWvely short span of seven decades, we have been through a lot.
We’ve seen coup d’etats and periods of democraWc governance.
We lived through the Cold War and witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall.
We were excited about the advent of globalisaWon, and we came together as a global family to work on the MDGs and climate change.
Today, as I address you here in Davos, one thing is clear.
Our world as we know it is at an inﬂexion point.
The global mulWlateral governance system, universally agreed and accepted aXer the 2nd World War, is breaking down.
Bilateral relaWons among naWons are increasingly transacWonal, and many state and non-state actors are acWng unilaterally in pursuing their own naWonal and parochial interests.
Africa has lagged behind in the past decades, following liberaWon from colonialism, and has been trapped in cycles of conﬂict and mulWdimensional poverty.
Africa has thrived on handouts and humanitarian assistance from the developed world.
While no speciﬁc name has not been coined yet for the new global system that will emerge, Africa intends to be at the table in determining what that new global order will look like.
Africa must pull itself up by its own bootstraps.
Global humanitarian assistance is shrinking.
Many developed countries, including Europe, are compelled to cut ODA and increase defence spending by the new reality of an unpredictable ally across the AtlanWc.
The COVID experience was a wake-up call.
Africa was the last continent to begin receiving vaccines amid a global pandemic.
But for the immunological proﬁle and resilience of the African populaWon, many millions would have died in the pandemic.
That is why I am very grateful, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, that you made the Wme to be a part of this aXernoon’s Davos Convening of the Accra Reset IniWaWve on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
Just months ago, at the UN General Assembly, I introduced the Accra Reset IniWaWve.
Not as another declaraWon.
Not as a wish list.
But as a pracWcal answer to a quesWon millions of young Africans are asking: What should Africa’s response be in a changing global order?
Today, in Ghana, we're answering that quesWon.
We're resefng our country— cufng waste, restoring hope, building systems that work.
In my ﬁrst year of being back in the oﬃce, we've shown that democracy works and that change is possible when leadership is focused and accountable to the people.
From a debt-distressed, crisis-ridden economy, we have achieved an impressive turnaround, with a stable macroeconomy characterised by single-digit inflation, a strengthened currency, and increased business conﬁdence.
But here's what keeps me up at night: Ghana's success alone is not enough.
However admirable Ghana’s turnaround story is, we cannot be a jewel in the dirt.
We must work together as Africa.
We must knit together the patchwork of success stories.
That's why we're here in Davos.
To take what's working across many countries in Africa and the Global South and scale it across other countries.
To move from resefng one country to resefng the enWre development model.
Let me be direct about what we're up against.
Too many of our countries are caught in what I call triple dependency: We depend on others for our security choices We depend on donors for our health and educaWon systems We supply the world's criWcal minerals but capture almost none of the value This isn't sovereignty.
And it is gefng worse.
In my quiet moments, as I try to ﬁnd soluWons, here's what I've learned: Crisis creates Clarity.
The clarity is this: We must build our own capacity to act.
There's precedent for what I am proposing.
Twenty years ago, UN Secretary General Koﬁ Annan and several courageous world leaders, including President Obasanjo here, made a simple, powerful case: HIV/AIDS was killing millions in Africa, and a global response was needed.
This courage created the architecture of the Global Fund, which saved millions of lives in Africa and across the world.
That ﬁght succeeded because leaders decided to act together, with urgency and without excuses.
Today, I am not so sure.
The US is cufng funding for the United NaWons system and other global organisaWons that have saved millions of lives.
We face an unpredictable world.
This is why Africa must be responsible for its desWny.
Today, we face a diﬀerent pandemic: the pandemic of unfulﬁlled potenWal.
Millions of young people have no jobs.
Health systems that collapse at the ﬁrst crisis.
Economies that extract our resources but build nothing lasWng.
If we could mobilise the world to ﬁght a disease, why can't we mobilise to ﬁght poverty?
To ﬁght dependency?
To ﬁght the systems that keep brilliant young Africans locked out of the future.
In Ghana, we're proving something important—execuWon beats excuses.
We're cufng government spending and have reduced the size of government to a record low: 58 ministers and deputy ministers.
We're digiWsing services to end corrupWon.
We're training young people for the jobs of tomorrow, not yesterday.
We have renegoWated our debt so we can invest in our people, not just service loans.
This is the "Resefng Ghana" agenda.
And it's working because we stopped talking about transformaWon and started building it.
Now imagine this same approach across Africa and the global south.
The mulWlateral order and rules-based system may be under threat, but we can forge a new coaliWon of the willing based on a shared vision and mutual respect.
What if we pooled our negoWaWng power on criWcal minerals, so we capture value, not just extract raw ore?
What if we exercised more sovereignty over our natural resources to create prosperity for our people.
What if we built regional manufacturing hubs that create millions of jobs for our young people?
What if we produced our own vaccines, our own medicines, our own technology?
This is the Accra Reset vision.
Not a talk shop.
Not a declaraWon.
A pracWcal blueprint for how countries can work together to build real sovereignty, the kind you can measure in jobs created, children vaccinated, and young people thriving.
My fellow leaders, let me speak plainly.
In this fast-changing world, we're entering an era where countries must compete, innovate, and build or be leX behind.
Our young people are watching.
They're brilliant, they're hungry, and they're running out of paWence.
So, here's what we must focus on: First, invest in skills.
Not just educaWon, but skills that match real jobs in the real economy.
Digital skills.
Green energy skills.
Manufacturing skills.
We need a generaWon of young Africans who can build, not just consume.
Second, build together.
No African country can industrialise alone.
We must create regional prosperity plarorms, manufacturing zones, energy grids, and digital infrastructure that give our businesses scale and our workers opportunity.
Third, negoWate as one.
When we bargain separately, we're weak.
When we negoWate together on minerals, trade, and climate ﬁnance, we're formidable.
Unity should not be a slogan; it must be the strategy.
Fourth, produce at home.
From vaccines to semiconductors to solar panels, if we don't make it, we'll always be dependent on someone who does.
Industrial policy isn't old-fashioned.
It is what will make us survive.
And ﬁXh, hold ourselves accountable to our people.
We cannot ask the world to invest in us if we tolerate corrupWon, waste, and systems that don't work.
Reset means reform.
And reform means results.
The Davos Commitment.
Friends, we didn't come here to ask for charity.
We came to propose a global partnership of the willing, based on a shared vision and mutual respect.
The Accra Reset is building the architecture for a new kind of cooperaWon.
One where Global South countries don't just receive programmes but co-design them with our partners in the global north.
Where we don't just atract investment but shape it around our prioriWes.
We want to create Prosperity Spheres across regional plarorms where countries coordinate on investment, infrastructure, and jobs.
President Obasanjo oXen reminds me that "Leadership is about legacy.
What will you leave behind?"
My answer is simple.
We want to leave a conWnent where young people don't risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean, because they have opportunity at home.
We want to leave systems that work, industries that thrive, and naWons that stand tall.
Ghana can't do it alone.
Africa can't do it alone.
This is a call to every leader in this room.
If you believe in a world where prosperity is shared, not just based on narrow interests, join us.
If you believe the Global South deserves partnership, not pity, join us.
If you believe the next chapter of human progress will be writen in Accra, Nairobi, Kigali, Abuja, and Cairo, join us.
The Accra Reset is not seeking permission.
We're building momentum.
From the New York last September to this room in Davos, and to the African Union in Addis Ababa next month, and soon the Oslo Dialogues.
The quesWon is not whether the world needs this.
The quesWon is whether we have the courage to build it.
Your Excellency Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang Rt.
Honourable Speaker of Parliament Your Ladyship the Chief Justice Your Excellency, former President John Agyekum Kufuor Your Excellency, former President Nana Akufo-Addo Ministers of State Honourable Members of Parliament Nii Mei, Naa Mei Service Chiefs Our gallant men and women on parade Distinguished guests Ladies and Gentlemen Good people of Ghana, I wish you a Happy Independence Day.
Ten years ago, during Ghana’s 58th Independence Anniversary, we implemented reforms to the annual Independence Day parade.
This eased the burden on thousands of school children who march, sparing them from hours of standing in the scorching sun.
They formed up on the parade ground only when it was time for their march-past and presidential acknowledgment.
A few years ago, the previous administration decided to rotate the hosting of Independence Day celebrations among the regions of our country, an initiative intended to bring the celebration closer to all our people.
Unfortunately, this year, we are constrained to interrupt the celebration's rotation in the regions and hold it in a scaled-down version here at the Presidency's forecourt instead of the traditional Black Star Square.
This is a necessary step considering the economic crisis our nation is currently experiencing.
Large-scale celebrations often come with significant logistics, security, and public infrastructure costs, which strain the national budget.
By reducing the scale of the event, we wish to demonstrate a commitment to fiscal responsibility and efficient use of limited resources.
Fiscal prudence has become imperative for navigating the severe economic crisis that has recently confronted our country.
The state spent GHS 15 million on last year’s celebration in Koforidua and GHS 13.7 million on the previous year's celebration in Ho.
We received estimates of at least GHS 20 million for holding the event at Independence Square this year on the same scale as previous years.
In a year when we call on everyone to sacrifice, including workers who have accepted a base pay adjustment far below the inflation rate, it is unconscionable to spend that much money on a few hours of celebration.
Today’s event would save us 95% of the estimated cost.
Nonetheless, this scaled-down celebration does not diminish the importance and significance of this occasion in any way.
Ghana’s independence is the single most important event in our history, as it set us on the path to nationhood.
It is even more significant because it lit the flames of independence in sub-Saharan Africa by inspiring other countries, yoked to colonial exploitation, to seek self-determination.
This day must always be commemorated, but when reality calls for a different approach, we must heed it and act accordingly.
Moreover, hosting the celebration here at the Presidency preserves the symbolic essence of Independence Day while demystifying the seat of government.
Fellow compatriots, Independence Day celebrations serve as an opportunity to remember our nation’s struggle for freedom and to honor the sacrifices of our forbearers who led that struggle for self-rule.
It reinforces our national identity, unity, and patriotism while offering a moment for reflection on our progress and the challenges ahead.
It presents an opportunity to recount our history, pick the lessons it teaches, and forge a new path for progress and development.
Kwame Nkrumah—the Founder of our nation—envisioned an industrialized, self-reliant Ghana, whose citizens have the highest standard of economic life and the greatest sense of self-esteem—rooted in Pan-African unity.
But on February 24, 1966, a joint military and police coup shattered that dream, plunging Ghana into decades of instability and military takeovers—the verdict of history is now loud and clear: declassified documents from the US archives reveal that it was a coup inspired and engineered by the CIA.
This remains the most regrettable and darkest moment in our nation’s journey.
That moment sparked a series of historical events that have set us back and significantly delayed our attainment of the objectives of nationhood.
We have had moments of triumph and moments of anguish.
We have blossomed into a fully-fledged democracy with a healthy culture of peaceful power transfers.
We must, however, remind ourselves that democratic participation transcends the act of voting; it is fundamentally about accountability and the security needed to demand it.
It is about safeguarding the people’s freedoms and rights and fulfilling the promises of socioeconomic prosperity enshrined in our founding document.
Our history is complex, marked by struggle, resilience, and renewal.
But through it all, one truth stands firm: the unbreakable will of the Ghanaian people has ensured that no matter the detours, our democratic spirit endures and our destiny remains in our own hands.
While we reflect on our journey, we must also review our standing today.
We must assess our economic outlook, education and human resource development, natural resource management, national security, and governance arrangements.
A thorough review of our healthcare system, agriculture and food security, infrastructure and urban development, and the role of science, technology, and innovation is essential.
In this era of green transition, we must recognize our unique circumstances—a nation rich in natural resources yet vulnerable to climate change—and chart a path that balances sustainability with economic growth.
Eighteen years ago, as we marked our Golden Jubilee—50 years of independence—we celebrated offshore oil and gas discovery.
It was a moment of great optimism, promising a new era of economic transformation and attracting significant investment into Ghana’s petroleum sector.
However, in recent years, poor governance and policy choices have stunted our prospects and left us reeling from serious challenges.
This stark reality, far from dampening our spirits, must spur us on to strive for rapid development.
For if our forebears, armed with far less, did not permit their backs to be broken by a repressive and exploitative colonial administration representing an imperial power, how can we, their progenies, armed with far more, despair in the face of these challenges?
Rather than perpetually decrying our failures, every anniversary of our independence must present an opportunity to account for the legacy we are building for the next generation.
We, of this generation, are merely custodians of their country and resources, entrusted with managing them wisely, today.
These independence anniversaries should be moments of reflection—not on what we have done for ourselves, but on how well we have stewarded national assets for those who will inherit them.
Our story cannot be one of missed opportunities; it must be one of continued effort to achieve far more than we can boast of now.
Posterity will not accept our failures or take kindly to them.
As President, I am committed to providing the bold leadership and clarity of vision needed to navigate the turbulent economic waters while safeguarding our future.
Discussions about our independence often highlight our reliance on imports, donor aid, and IMF bailouts as signs of continued dependence.
This reminder is repeated so often that, while undeniably real, it risks becoming a cliché.
Yet the entire efficacy of this reminder lies not in its repetition but in our willingness to take decisive action—actions that break the chains of dependency, not just the empty rhetoric of Africa Beyond Aid.
Proclaiming self-reliance while marching straight to the doors of donor agencies, begging bowl in hand, is meaningless.
My administration is formulating policies based on fiscal discipline and living within our means to break this cycle of dependence and reset our economy.
We are also striving to expand our economy to yield prosperity for all.
We are working to implement the 24-hour economy program to ensure that our economy never sleeps.
This will allow us to create the necessary job expansion, boost productivity, increase our export capacity and trade footprint, and reduce our need for foreign aid.
The US$10 billion Big Push Initiative will also modernize infrastructure, create jobs, and stimulate local industries, ensuring that our development is driven from within rather than funded from outside.
Agriculture remains our biggest opportunity to reduce import dependence.
With over US$2 billion spent annually on food imports, the Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA) is structured to strengthen local agribusiness and ensure food security.
The Feed Ghana Programme will drive mass food production and stabilize prices.
At the same time, the Poultry Farm-to-Table Initiative will boost domestic production and processing to directly address our 95% reliance on imported poultry.
The success of these policies depends on active citizen participation, particularly from young people.
The AgriNext Programme will equip 30,000 youth with land, training, and agribusiness opportunities.
Farmer Service Centres in every district will provide access to mechanization, quality seeds, and fertilizers to boost local food production.
This is a defining moment, but policies alone, no matter how well-couched, will not change our reality—action will.
As your president, I am taking the necessary actions to create growth opportunities and enhance our economic independence.
Young Ghanaians must step up, seize these opportunities, and contribute to building a self-sufficient nation.
Ghana’s economic future is in your hands.
Fellow Ghanaians, the 1992 Constitution has provided a stable framework for governance and delivered the most extended period of constitutional democracy in our nation’s history.
However, like any enduring legal and political framework, it has flaws and loopholes.
Recognizing the need for refinement, the late President John Evans Atta Mills initiated a constitutional review process in 2010, leading to the establishment of the Constitution Review Commission.
My previous administration took steps toward implementing its recommendations, but legal challenges interrupted the process.
Considering evolving national and global dynamics, I have constituted a new review committee to undertake a comprehensive and inclusive reassessment of our Constitution.