President Akufo-Addo has stated that the exploits in favour of the country by all the persons given national awards is the sole purpose that motivated government to recognize the awardees and not their political persuasion.
Addressing awardees and attendees at the ceremony to confer national awards on deserving persons, held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) today Tuesday 14 March 2023, President Akufo-Addo said on behalf of the Ghanaian people and government, expressed the gratitude of the nation to the men and women who were entrusted with the responsibility of keeping us safe at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pure national event
The awards ceremony in President Akufo-Addo’s view, “is a purely national event, devoid of partisan, ethnic or religious considerations, and organised solely in recognition of the services offered by its recipients to the growth, development, progress and prosperity of Ghana”.
“I, as the President of the Republic, the Fount of Honour, act as the Head of State, and not as Head of Government, in the distribution of awards” President Akufo-Addo said.
“I can happily say that I am not aware of the political sympathies or views of the overwhelming majority of today’s awardees. Their politics is of no moment to me, only their exploits in favour of Mother Ghana” he added.
The COVID-19 fight
President Akufo-Addo, in his address observed that Ghana on Sunday, 12 March 2020, recorded her first two COVID-19 cases and “it was obvious to me, watching what was happening in Asia, Europe and Latin America, that, if it was not well-managed, it would disrupt our lives and livelihoods”.
“In fact, it did. That is why I made the statement, which gained some traction at the time, that we know what to do to bring the economy back to life; what we do not know is how to bring people back to life.
“Our first priority in Ghana, then, was the health and safety of our citizens, and that is why Government put in place a comprehensive strategy to deal with this novel virus, whose incidence was unknown” President Akufo-Addo said.
Recounting some of the hard decisions his administration had to take, the President observed that “we were restrained from shaking hands and hugging one another; we had to keep a distance from each other; we had to put up with the discomfort of wearing face masks every time we left our homes; we had to endure distress caused by the poking of our nostrils and throats with swab-sticks, each time we underwent a PCR or antigen test; and we had to endure, for three weeks, the painful lockdown in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and Kasoa and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and contiguous districts”.
“In addition to this, we had to support households and micro, small, and medium-size businesses (MSMEs); we had to keep our schools open, and ensure that the education of our children was not truncated; and we instituted a GH¢1.1 billion health response package to procure supplies and equipment, and a relief package for health workers, which included tax waivers, allowances, transportation and COVID-insurance.
“Government also found the money to recruit, on a permanent basis, fifty-eight thousand and forty-one (58,041) more health professionals. COVID-19 inspired our domestic manufacturing capabilities, and deepened our self-reliance” President Akufo-Addo said.
“The pharmaceutical industry, at my instigation”, President Akufo-Addo said, “responded positively to the need for domestic production of sanitizers, disinfectants, and liquid soaps”.
“Furthermore, Government was able to procure some eighty-one million cedis (GH¢81 million) worth of personal protective equipment, such as face masks, headcovers, medical scrubs and hospital gowns from domestic garment and textiles manufacturing companies for health workers, and for students who wrote their final examinations” the President noted.
“We pioneered lifesaving innovations that the WHO replicated elsewhere. Our relative success in winning the fight against COVID-19 is a testament to the tireless work of our researchers, scientists, advisors, public health managers, frontline healthcare workers, hospital staff, contact tracers, the security services, public and private sector agencies, faith-based organisations, chieftaincy institutions, charitable organisations, and so many others who dedicated themselves to the fight to keep Ghanaians safe.
“That is why we are here today to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to all these segments of our population, especially, as at the height of the pandemic, Ghana and South Korea were considered the two countries who undertook the best management of the pandemic” Akufo-Addo added.
ITLOS recognition
President Akufo-Addo in his remarks noted that the awards were also essentially to recognize “our foreign friends and partners who aided us [Ghana] in that enterprise [the adjudication of the ITLOS case].
“To the men and women who made sure that the maritime boundary dispute with our immediate, western neighbour, the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, ended favourably for the Republic of Ghana, thereby, ensuring that our western maritime resources, including its oil and gas potential, rightfully remained in our possession, and to certain outstanding citizens whose work has brought renown and merit to our nation’s development” the President said.
“Our victory in the maritime boundary dispute could not have been achieved through the actions of one person, one political party or one government.
“It was a collective effort, and it is for this reason that the important roles played by successive governments and groups of individuals, cannot not be overlooked, discounted or understated.
“The judgment of the Tribunal has brought finality to a maritime boundary dispute that had been extant for over five decades” he added.
Others awards
Apart from the two main categories of awardees, that is the COVID-19 and ITLOS awardees, there was a third category of awardees of a few individuals whose work according to President Akufo-Addo, “deserve the plaudits of the nation”.
The individuals were; the late great philosopher, Prof. Johnson Kwame Wiredu, by common consent one of the outstanding philosophers of global repute of the modern age.
He was given a befitting posthumous award, Order of the Volta – Companion. The rest are Ms Margaret Sophia Darkwah, the first female Commissioner of Police, Professor Akwasi Osei, former Chief Executive of the Mental Health Authority and Dr Veronica Agartha Martinson, former Executive Director of the Cocoa Research Institute, Ghana. Asaaseradio