ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
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, 8 th March, the 13 th 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 67 th Independence Day Celebration to all of us, and may God bless us all and our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong.
President Nana Akufo-Addo says his government is working to grow Ghana’s economy and, thereby, open up opportunities for the progress and prosperity of all Ghanaians.
Acknowledging that Ghana is nowhere near where she has to be, his administration is determined to realise fully the country’s potential and make Ghana a prosperous nation.
Speaking the 72nd session of the United Nations' General Assembly meeting, he said "we want to build a Ghana beyond aid.
It is an easier platform on which to build sustainable relationships.
"In talking about sustainable relations, Africa, and, indeed, Ghana, remains committed to remaining a nuclear-weapon-free continent.
Three weeks ago, highly-enriched uranium was flown out of Ghana back to China, signalling the end of the removal of all such material from the country."
President Akufo-Addo also called for reforms at the UN saying it is "nothing new when I draw attention to the urgent need to reform this Organisation."
"It has been talked about and scheduled for a long time, but, somehow, we have never found the courage and the will to reform the United Nations.
Ghana supports the process of UN Reform, especially of the UN Security Council, as set out in Africa’s Common Position on UN Reform, based on the Ezulwini Consensus.
The time is long overdue to correct the longstanding injustice that the current structure and composition of the UN Security Council represent for the nations of Africa," he said.
Below is his speech ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, AT THE 72 ND SESSION OF THE UN’S GENERAL ASSEMBLY, Mr.
President, Your Excellencies.
It has been sixty years since my country, Ghana, became a member of this Organisation.
We joined at our independence some twelve years after the first meeting of the Organisation in San Francisco, and Ghana has been an active participant in the United Nations since then.
I want, Mr President, to thank the United Nations for the honour done Ghana by my appointment, by the Secretary General, as co-Chair of the Group of Advocates of Eminent Persons of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to continue in the position that was held by my predecessor as President, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama.
This mark of trust in Ghana’s leaders is a matter of justifiable pride for the Ghanaian people, a trust I pledge to uphold.
On 25 th September, 2015, when the SDGs were adopted, there were sceptics who feared that the goals were too many and too complex to be successfully tackled, even with concerted effort.
The lesson that we have learnt, however, from the experience of this Organisation is that, once the world puts its collective mind to something, the chances are we would get it right.
And, every day, something happens to bring home to us, the inhabitants of this planet, that we are in it together.
There is no better dramatic indication of this truth than the images that have recently dominated our television screens of devastation caused by floods in Houston Texas, in Dhaka Bangladesh, in Mumbai India, in Palpa Nepal, in Dominica, Puerto Rico, Antigua and Barbuda, and St.
Martin, all in the Caribbean, and in Niamey Niger.
One of the most modern cities in the richest, most powerful nation on our earth, was suffering the same fate as Niamey in the Sahel region of Africa, one of the poorest parts of the world.
At the height of the raging waters, one thing has become clear: it does not matter if you are in the richest or poorest part of the world, the awesome power of nature was on display, and we, humans, came across as the same sad creatures at the mercy of nature.
As I watched and listened, along with the rest of the world, it occurred to me that, all put together, the SDGs are, indeed, a worthwhile set of goals for the world.
They bear repeating: no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, life below water, life on land, peace, justice and strong institutions and topped up with partnerships for the goals.
We should work hard to achieve these goals.
The world will be a much better place.
Ghana was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain her freedom from colonial rule.
This year marks the 60 th anniversary of that independence, and it is auspicious that I am addressing this Assembly for the first time on the birth date of our historic first President, Kwame Nkrumah, a day we have set aside to commemorate him.
We believe it is time Africa comes of age and holds its rightful place on the world stage.
This Africa will be neither a victim nor a pawn.
This Africa will be honest to itself and to the world, and this Africa will shed its cloak of poverty, and become prosperous.
We are not under any illusions about the hard work that it will take to achieve our stated goals, but we are not afraid of hard work.
We know that a critical ingredient in making sustainable economic progress is to ensure a stable democratic system of governance.
I believe we are making this progress in Ghana.
After years of political turmoil and the accompanying economic chaos, a consensus has emerged in our Fourth Republic.
We have had political stability for the last 25 years under a multi-party democracy, where regular elections are now an accepted feature of our governance.
I am here, today, because of elections last December in which the people of Ghana voted out an incumbent government, and gave me and my party the mandate and honour to govern our nation for the next four years.
We continue to be a beacon of democracy and stability on the continent, our institutions of state are growing stronger, and we have made more progress with our economy than at any time since independence.
Mr President, we are nowhere near where we want to be, but we are determined to realise our potential and make Ghana a prosperous nation.
There will always be adventurers amongst us Ghanaians who would want to seek challenges in different parts of the world, and we would wish them well and expect that wherever they go, they would be welcome and treated with dignity.
But we are working to grow our economy and open up opportunities for all our citizens.
No longer should Ghanaians feel they have to subject themselves to the intolerable and inhumane conditions of crossing the Sahara, and drowning in the Mediterranean, in the hope of making a living in Europe.
We have just started the Free Senior High School programme, which aims to guarantee secondary education for all of Ghana’s children.
The programme will ensure that all our children will be educated to at least secondary level, and money, or the lack of it, will no longer mean a denial of education.
This has already led to an increase of over 90,000 children, who have entered secondary school this academic year, who would otherwise have dropped out at this stage.
SDG 4, which aims at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, will be within our reach by the target date.
We do not want to be a scar on anybody’s conscience.
We want to build an economy that is not dependent on charity and handouts.
Long and bitter experience has taught us no matter how generous the charity, we would remain poor.
We want to build a Ghana which looks to the use of its own resources and their proper management as the way to engineer social and economic growth in our country.
We want to build an economy that looks past commodities to position our country in the global marketplace.
We are not disclaiming aid, but we do want to discard a mindset of dependency and living on handouts; we want to build a Ghana beyond aid.
In talking about sustainable relations, Africa, and, indeed, Ghana, remains committed to remaining a nuclear-weapon-free continent.
Three weeks ago, highly-enriched uranium was flown out of Ghana back to China, signalling the end of the removal of all such material from the country.
Our nuclear reactor has, subsequently, been converted to use low-enriched fuel for power generation.
A world, free of nuclear weapons, must be in all our collective interest.
President, I wish to reaffirm my country’s commitment to maintaining friendly and cordial relations with all the countries and peoples of the world.
The full engagement of Ghana, through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in the process of West African integration, and through the African Union (AU), in the process of African integration, remains a goal of my government.
Regional and continental integration are in Ghana’s interest, as they represent one of the surest ways towards establishing the conditions for prosperity in our region and on the continent in the decades ahead, as well as helping to ensure peace and security and combating the scourges of terrorism, extremism and intolerance.
The conflicts that continue to plague our continent in Libya, South Sudan, Congo DRC, and Mali, would be more effectively resolved if the international community was to support, not undermine, the efforts of our regional and continental organisations to deal with them.
Ghana will also continue to be active in the multilateral organisations to which we belong, such as La Francophonie, the Commonwealth of Nations, and this United Nations, because we believe multilateral action and international co-operation are in the interest of all of us.
We want to build a Ghana that will enable our people deal with the rest of the world on an equal basis.
I say nothing new, when I draw attention to the urgent need to reform this Organisation.
It has been talked about and scheduled for a long time, but, somehow, we have never found the courage and the will to reform the United Nations.
The time is long overdue to correct the longstanding injustice that the current structure and composition of the UN Security Council represent for the nations of Africa.
We cannot continue to preach democracy and fairness around the world, we cannot insist on peace and justice around the world, when our global organisation is not seen by the majority of its members as having a structure that is just and fair.
It is, indeed, seen by many as helping to perpetuate an unfair world order.
This Organisation provides the best vehicle for the world to manage its many varied problems, and we would undermine its credibility and fail in our duty if we do not reform the United Nations.
We dare not let ourselves and future generations down.
The time for reform has come.
I thank you very much for your attention.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has commended Achimota School for its contribution in producing prominent individuals both for the country and Africa.
Speaking at the 90th anniversary of the School, he said,"You have produced presidents and prime ministers, not only for Ghana, but for other African countries, and you have a reputation that is unmatched."
He charged the old students of the school as well as Ghanaians as a whole not to "simply to moan about our present conditions.
I urge you to lend your wholehearted support to this government and the efforts we have just begun to make to build a happy and prosperous nation."
Below is the full statement: SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, ON THE OCCASION OF THE 90 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF ACHIMOTA SCHOOL This is a wonderful day in the life of this great institution.
So much of the modern history of our country is bound up in the history of this place, and it is appropriate that we celebrate, in a grand style, the 90 th anniversary of its birth.
I did not attend this school, but I have strong links with this most famous of schools in our country.
My maternal grandfather, Nana Ofori-Atta I, the illustrious Okyenhene, the redoubtable Kojo Dua, was one of the main sponsors of the Achimota project, and it would not have been surprising if his name had found a place in those recognised as the founders.
Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg-Ofori-Atta would probably not have been out of place.
But I have no intention of starting an argument along those lines on a day like this.
My Achimota connection is strong.
My father, Edward Akufo-Addo, was one of the pioneer students of the school and became the first senior prefect.
My aunt, Susan Ofori-Atta, the first female Ghanaian doctor, came to this school and became the head girl.
My uncle, William Ofori-Atta, the celebrated Paa Willie, also came here and became senior prefect during his time.
My mother, Adeline, Yeboakua, came to this school and became games prefect.
Several other uncles and aunts, Aaron (Kofi Asante), Kuntunkunku (Teacher Joe), Grace and Jones, also attended Achimota School.
And oh, my brother, Edward, abandoned Marlborough in England after his O’ Levels and came here for his sixth form.
Achimota has remained the school of choice for both sides of my family, including the latest Finance Minister of our country, the flavour of the moment, Ken Ofori-Atta.
The lady who runs my office, Saratu Atta, is also an Achimotan.
My wife, Rebecca, too, has an Achimotan connection, as she came to primary school here.
To provide an answer to the question that has been asked about why I did not come here, shall we say that I was at a school that was equally exciting, which did an excellent job, I hope, in giving me an education that has prepared me for life and all its vicissitudes.
I must confess, though, that I used to visit this school a lot in my youth, since I had many friends, male and female, here.
This is what allows me to express my solidarity with you by wearing your cloth.
Achimota was started with a clear vision of training young Ghanaians for leadership roles.
It was supposed to be an unashamedly elite school.
And I use the word elite here not in the pejorative sense of our times.
More than 90 years ago, Governor Guggisberg had a dream of establishing a school in the then Gold Coast that would match the standard of the best high schools in America and Europe.
His vision was to create an institution that would produce quality students who would be nurtured further at the tertiary level to mature as a quality human resource for the rapid development of the nation.
His ultimate aim, to quote him, in a passage that is often cited, was also to ‘bridge the intellectual gap between the African who had completed his education at an English university and that of the semi-educated African of our primary schools’.
In many ways, Achimota has fulfilled its promise.
We have heard the roll-call of presidents, 4½ of the 8 civilian presidents, I say half because my predecessor was at primary school here; vice chancellors and other high-level officials who have been through this school.
You have produced presidents and prime ministers, not only for Ghana, but for other African countries, and you have a reputation that is unmatched.
As we all know, Achimotans are heads of states, first ladies, prominent politicians, doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, bankers, scholars, inventors, scientists, entrepreneurs, judges, musicians, merchants, teachers, farmers, authors, playwrights, architects, actors, models, bankers, businessmen, traditional rulers, senior military officers, diplomats, media practitioners, revolutionaries and clergymen.
You are leaders in all sectors of our country and I congratulate you.
Your Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I suspect it is becoming clear to all that this President that we have elected wants us all to be frank with each other.
I have gone on record to say that I do not want to be told what people think I want to hear.
I take it that those who invite me to events also want me to be equally frank with them.
I believe it is good for our national health that we all engage in some plain talking, and even question things we have always taken for granted.
Ladies and gentlemen, I might not be an Akora myself, but I believe I have laid the grounds that qualify me to speak as part of the family.
Let me provide you with even more evidence of my qualification to be part of the family.
Back in 1929, my granduncle, that Ghanaian colossus, Joseph Boakye Danquah, wrote in what he called An Epistle to the Educated Youngman in Akyem Abuakwa, and I quote him: “...perhaps in the whole of tropical Africa, there is not a finer institution than Achimota.