Indians in Ghana mark 67th Republic Day
The Indian community in Ghana yesterday marked its country’s 67th Republic Day anniversary in Accra, with a charge from the country’s President, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, to the citizens to applaud the things democracy had enabled them to achieve, such as investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, health, education, science and technology.
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In a statement read on his behalf by the Indian High Commissioner in Accra, Mr K. Jeeva Sagar, the President extolled the virtues of democracy and urged the Indian people to continue to complain, demand and ‘rebel,’ adding, “this too is a virtue of democracy.”
It said despite the many challenges that were encountered last year, India was poised to become the largest growing economy in 2016, with an estimated growth rate of 7.3 per cent.
“We are positioning ourselves well for achieving a higher growth rate which will in the next 10 to 15 years help us eliminate poverty,” the statement said.
President Mukherjee, however, stated that to activate the forces of growth, reforms and progressive legislation were needed. “It is the bounden duty of the lawmakers to ensure that such legislation is enacted after due discussion and debate,” he said.
A group of Indian children entertained those who attended the celebration with cultural performances.
View on Terrorism
The Indian President said while peace was the foundation of civilisation and a necessity for economic progress, “terrorism is inspired by insane objectives, motivated by bottomless depths of hatred, instigated by puppeteers who have invested heavily in havoc through the mass murder of innocents.
“This is war beyond any doctrine, a cancer which must be operated out with a firm scalpel. There is no good or bad terrorism; it is pure evil.” The president added that “If outlaws are able to unravel borders, then we are heading towards an age of chaos.”
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Significance of celebration
Later, in an interview with the media, Mr Sagar said the importance of the anniversary lay in the fact that after India gained its independence in 1947, it was able to declare itself a republic and also develop its own constitution in 1950 to become a sovereign, secular and democratic country.
“Mr Sagar have taken our destiny into our own hands and the Indian constitution is one of the most elaborate constitutions in the world with all the fundamental and democratic principles. So this is a very important day in our history – the independence history of India, because it has defined India’s future as a democratic nation, ” he stressed.
He said marking the anniversary was also important, as it provided a connection with the Indian diaspora that numbered about 25 million and encouraged them to contribute their quota to the economy of India and to the economies of the countries they lived in.
Relations with Ghana
Touching on the relations between Ghana and India since independence, Mr Sagar told the Daily Graphic, “today as we speak, bilateral trade with Ghana is US$2 billion plus, and investments are US$1 billion into Ghana and into diverse sectors and India has been supporting Ghana and cooperating with it through lines of credit.
“For instance in the last six or seven years, our concessional assistance to Ghana has been about US$30 billion and apart from that we are also giving grants and several social economic projects in Ghana that touch the lives of common people here.
“We are very happy about that because Ghana is a friendly country and you are growing very rapidly, you are a resourceful country and when we see the progress and the prosperity of a friendly nation it makes us happy,” he added.