13 Trustees of Head of State awards sworn in

A 13-member Board of Trustees for the Head of State Awards Scheme was sworn in at a ceremony at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.

The Head of State Award Scheme is a non-formal education and learning programme that challenges, empowers, and recognises young people between the ages of 14 and 24.

The new Trustees are Harry B. Sintim-Aboagye, the Chairman of the board; Gladys Amoah, Vice-Chairman; Kwadwo Addeah-Safo, Secretary; Daniel A Adotey, Trustee; Hajia Muniratu Lamptey, 
Trustee; Dr Juliet Yayra Tengey, Trustee; Ohenewa Sakyi Bekoe, Trustee, and Kezia Asiedua Sanie, also a Trustee.

The rest are Stephen Oduro; Trustee; Pius Enam Hadzide, Trustee; Gifty Sakyi-Bremansu, Trustee; Abena A Antwi, Trustee; and Peter A. Anum, the Chief Executive.   

Oath

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who led the board to swear the official oath and the oath of secrecy, advised them to provide direction to the operationalisation of the award programme, as trustees, to reach out to more young people and maintain public confidence in the scheme.

He also urged them to mobilise resources and funds to sustain and grow the awards scheme for more young Ghanaians.

He said the secretariat was constructing an award house for the scheme saying that also required the trustees to see to its completion.

He pledged his support to the scheme to help create avenues to enable the youth to explore and be innovative and use creative ways of solving societal problems to ensure the development of the nation.

Additionally, President Akufo-Addo expressed the readiness of government to continue to provide adequate financial resources to enable the scheme to reach out to more young people in the country.

“The skills gap thus exist but I believe programmes such as the award scheme create opportunities for young people to up their skills, bridge the skills gap and be all round citizens.

“I am unable to accept the saying that the golden age is always in the past.  It is obvious that Ghana’s golden age is yet to come, how can we not hope for a golden future when we are blessed with such enormous wealth and human potential,” he added.

 “I place great hope in their potential to shape the future of Ghana to make the Black Star shine,” he asserted.

Fifty years

The President said the head of state award had been in existence for well over 50 years in Ghana and had been responsible for equipping many young Ghanaians with skills and experiences aimed at preparing them for life.

The programmes under the scheme, he indicated, were tailored towards instilling the virtues of discipline and civic responsibility and the obligations of leadership in the youth of the country.

In addition to that, he said, the awards scheme equipped, empowered and transformed the lives of young people to be successful in life by giving them a platform to discover and develop themselves through volunteerism, skills development, adventurous journeys and physical recreational activities.

Currently, President Akufo-Addo said, half of the world’s population was under the age of 30 with 90 per cent of that age group living in emerging development economies.

He said the aspirations and needs of young people and their ability to meet their full potential remained largely unmet due to the myriad of economic challenges currently confronting the world.

Despite the odds being stacked against the youth, he expressed confidence that when youths were empowered, development outcomes improved.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Harry A. Sintim-Aboagye, in his response, implored the President to initiate legislation to protect the intellectual property rights for the youth in Ghana.

That, he explained, was to stop the exploitation by the poachers.

He expressed gratitude to President Akufo-Addo for the confidence reposed in them to lead and guide the award scheme and gave an assurance that they would work to the best of their ability.

He stressed the commitment of the trustees to the cause saying “we will work as a team with the support  of all stakeholders  to make more young Ghanaians ready for life and work through the award programme.”

Mr Sintim-Aboagye also promised that the board would work assiduously for the completion of the award house.

Awards

“The award used to be delivered in seven regions. As at the beginning of 2021, through your support for the national revival and expansion programme, we have extended the reach of the programme to nine regions with over 60 new award centres established  in 2022.

“We engaged over 12,000 young Ghanaians in various activities in the four mandatory sections of skills development, voluntarism, sports and adventure,” he said.