Papa Owusu-Ankomah: High Commissioner speaks ahead of 61st independence

A message has been made public from H.E. Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Ghana's High Commissioner to the UK and Republic of Ireland on the occasion of the celebration of Ghana's 61st Independence anniversary. Read the entire statement below;

On behalf of H.E. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the People of Ghana, I salute all Ghanaians in the United Kingdom on the occasion of our great nation’s 61st Independence Anniversary.

On March 6, 1957, upon declaring our independence, our first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, stated that Ghana’s independence will be meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African Continent.

Since then, one of the central features of Ghana’s foreign policy has been a total commitment to African unity and support for the rights of all peoples of Africa to freely determine their own destinies. Presently, all African nations are politically independent.

After six decades of independence, we can say with confidence that Ghana has matured as a constitutional democracy with deepened adherence to the rule of law, protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms, and freedom and independence of the media.

However, the task before us as a nation now is encapsulated in the vision of the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, of a Ghana Beyond Aid.

This is a call to us as Ghanaians to re-focus, re-direct and re-trace the path of our development agenda, with a totally new mindset geared towards making our great nation substantially independent economically.

A Ghana Beyond Aid involves us actively mobilizing our human and financial resources, both home and in the diaspora, toward achieving a common national goal.

It involves mobilizing and leveraging domestic savings and revenues transparently with a resolute efficiency and accountability in the use of all public resources.

It means investing in people and building the capacity of the next generation of citizenry, including access to quality education to building their overall capacity for innovation and knowledge, and encouraging entrepreneurs, small business, private investment and innovation.

Our motherland Ghana is now at the cusp. This demands that we rediscover and rededicate ourselves to the ethos that motivated our forebears to fight for and achieve our political independence, so that we can move Ghana Beyond Aid and truly become the Black Star of Africa.

Let us ensure that in the years to come, when the story is told of a self-sufficient and economically assertive Ghana, we can proudly say that we were part of that generation that made a difference to make it happen.

I wish you all a Happy 61st Independence Anniversary.

May the Almighty God continue to bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong.