Govt confers national honours on 33
The government yesterday conferred national honours and awards on 33 personalities, comprising 28 Ghanaians and five expatriates, for their outstanding contributions to national development.
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President John Dramani Mahama, the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur and the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, decorated the personalities who were drawn from sectors such as the public service, chieftaincy, civil service, Judiciary, education, consular service, finance and banking, humanitarian service, agriculture, philanthropy and medicine.
Companion of the Order of the Volta
Fifteen awardees were decorated with the highest award of the Companion of the Order of the Volta.
They were the Speaker of Parliament: Mr Edward Doe Adjaho; two former Chiefs of Staff, Mr John Henry Martey Newman and Nana Ato Dadzie former Finance Ministers, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey and Dr Kwabena Duffour; the Agogohene, Nana Kwame Akuoko Sarpong; the Board Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Mr Ato Ahwoi; a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr J.S. Addo, and Mr J.H. Owusu-Acheampong, a veteran politician.
The rest in that category were a retired Chief of the Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Peter Augustine Blay; former Inspectors General of Police, Mr Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan and Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye; a former Chief Fire Officer, Mr Samuel Valis-Akyianu, and a retired senior officer of the Ghana Armed Forces, Col. David Gbon Zanlerigu.
Officer of the Order of the Volta
Five of the awardees who were decorated with ‘Officer of the Order of the Volta’ were: Ambassador Chris Kpodo, a retired diplomat; Prof. Raymond Bagulo Bening, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Development Studies; Mr Osei Tutu Prempeh, former Auditor-General; Mr William Kwadwo Asiedu, a former Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, and Mr Michael Kofi Bansah, a former Head of the Ghana Prisons Service.
Member of the Order of the Volta
Ten people were decorated in the Member of the Order of the Volta category. They were: Ambassador Agnes Aggrey-Orleans, the retired first Ghanaian female career diplomat; Mrs Sophia Gifty Awotwi, a retired educationist; Mr Justice Stephen Allan Brobbey and Prof. Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah, both retired Justices of the Supreme Court; Mr W.K. Kemevor, a former Head of the Civil Service and Naa Alhaji Salifu Dakurah, a retired public servant.
Others in the category were: Mr Worlanyo Kwadjo Siabi, a former Regional Director of the Ghana Water and Sanitation Agency; Mr Henricus Johannes Maria Wienjes, a Dutch agronomist who had a considerable working life in Ghana; Ms Mary Steele, a British nurse who relocated to Ghana to become a linguistic research worker, and Dr Uma Sen, an Indian who worked as a medical officer in Ghana.
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Grand Medal
Those who received the Grand Medal were the late Dr Michael Roy Appiah, formerly of the Cocoa Research Institute, who was honoured posthumously; Mr Manfred Schroder, a German who was once an Honorary Consul of Ghana in Dortmund, Germany, and Mr Christopher John Kiruel, a Kenyan who was Ghana’s Consul General to Kenya between 2000 and 2008.
Traditional flavour
The ceremony was characterised by the typical Ghanaian culture. The Ghana Dance Ensemble treated the audience to various traditional dances, while the resident choir of the Flagstaff House provided some melodious music.
The last time the national awards ceremony was held was on October 14, 2011.
Prior to yesterday’s ceremony, however, various awards had been conferred on the former Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan and 42 members of the Ghana Medical Brigade who served in Liberia during the Ebola crisis.
President speaks
Addressing the gathering, President Mahama said the 33 personalities who were celebrated served Ghana with distinction.
He said Ghana had come a long way since independence so many people had been awarded by the nation for their meritorious services that culminated in the successes chalked up by the nation.
Yet, he observed, there were several unsung and unnoticed people who had also contributed immensely to national development.
President Mahama expressed the hope that the awards would serve as a stimulus to others to make national service a major priority in their lives.
Response
Responding on behalf of the awardees, Mr Adjaho thanked the President and the country for the recognition given them and pledged that they would continue to work towards the nation’s development.