President Akufo-Addo believes Ghana as a country still has a long way to go when it comes to development.
He, however, admits there has been some level of growth over the years.
But insist there is still more to be done to achieve the expected development.
This was when he addressed attendees of the 2023 President’s Independence Day Awards held in Accra ahead of the country’s 66th independence anniversary celebration scheduled for Volta Region on Monday, March 7, 2023.
He noted, “we must have the pride to acknowledge we have made positive strides and we must also have the humility to appreciate that we still have a long way to go.
He has, therefore, made a passionate appeal for Ghana to eschew all forms of self-centeredness and divisiveness for the sake of the collective development of the nation.
In spite of the challenges the nation face, he insisted a lot has been achieved by the nation, and the citizenry must have the propensity to celebrate the achievements and to acknowledge the collective challenges of the state.
“As we prepare to celebrate 66 years of independence from the British colonial power on the theme: ‘Our Unity, Our Strength, Our Purpose,’ the formal commemoration of the anniversary taking place in Ho and Adaklu, in the Volta Region, let us eschew all acts of divisiveness and self-centered tendencies which will only retard our forward march,” was his charge.
Apart from that, he said “we must have the patience to accept that just as our fight for freedom and independence was not achieved in a day, so too our national prosperity will not come overnight” and that “we will have to work hard for it.”
He was, however, optimistic that “in peace and unity, I am certain that we can build a new Ghanaian civilisation that will attract the admiration of Africa and the world.”
In a brief statement, Minister for Education, Yaw Osei Adutwum said over 500,000 students have so far been placed in various senior high schools across the country in the ongoing 2023 school placement exercise.
He also commended the awardees for their achievement whilst urging them not to relent in their efforts to climb up the academic ladder at the various senior high schools they have been admitted to.
Managing Director Nestlé Ghana Limited, headline sponsor of the President’s Independence Awards, Georgios Badaro, on his part, applauded the award recipients for their achievements.
He noted that for 16 years, Nestlé has supported the awards in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the presidency of Ghana to reward Ghanaian students and talents who excel in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).
“We [Nestlé] do this because we believe that recognising, celebrating, supporting the achievements of our young talents can only urge them and motivate them to stay on course of their growth and development,” Georgios Badaro said.
The Awards
The ceremony saw the President presenting awards to 36 deserving students for the year 2021, and 36 students for the year 2022, bring the total to 72. The 2021 ceremony was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was therefore inculcated into the 2022 edition.
The President’s Independence Day Awards, since its inception in 1993, annually rewards young, brilliant students (male and female) between the ages of 14 and 19 from all the regions of Ghana.
The awardees are selected based on their exceptional academic performances in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). The objectives are essentially, to recognise and reward academic excellence and to promote and encourage students with additional educational needs.
The criteria used in selecting the awardees are excellent performance in the 2021 & 2022 BECE.
The overall best male and female students from public schools in the 16 regions are selected based on their raw scores obtained from the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
Overall best male and female students with additional educational needs such as visual and hearing impairments are also selected to receive awards. Where there is a tie, the core subjects (English, Mathematics, General Science, and Social Studies only) are used to break the tie.
To ensure absolute transparency and fairness, the best male, and female students from public schools in each region are selected based on the raw scores obtained from WAEC.
These students become the representing awardees for their regions. For inclusivity, the four overall best male and female students with visual and hearing challenges are also selected based on their BECE raw scores.
Source: dailyguidenetwork.com
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He who calls for equity must come with a clean hands. You talk against self-centeredness and division but turn around and practice same. Mr. President, please live with a example for others to emulate.
Well said but who is to be blamed for Ghana's slow pace at which the country is growing. People in the name of politics offer themselves to lead the country with all sorts of promises to make life better for the ordinary citizen. On trust people waste precious time to queue to vote for people to become an albatross around their necks. 66 years as an independent country with all the natural resources at our disposal i.e. Gold, bauxite, manganese, cocoa, timber, crude oil, vast arable lands, the sea, two giant harbours ( tema and takoradi), a vibrant youthful population etc etc. we can't still connect our 2 major cities i.e. Accra-Kumasi with a dual carriage road. We have 9 regions currently using a single lane road to get to the capital i.e. Upper west, Upper east, north east, northern, Savannah, Bono, Bono east, Ahafo and Ashanti not to talk of landlocked neighboring Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger also using same single lane road to get to the port of tema. Just this Saturday a presidential police motorcade rider collided with a bus on the Accra to Kumasi highway and died on the spot, 66 years on we still have basic schools without furniture and yet we have timber, 66 years a national hospital like korlebu admit patients on the bare floor due to lack of beds, some sit on plastic chairs to receive drips, 66 years on Ghana currently can't boast of a national airline, 66 years on all state owned enterprises have been collapsed i.e. Sugar factories @ Asutsuare E/R and Komenda C/R ,Car tires factory at Bonsa W/R, meat factory @ bolgatanga,Tomato factory @ Pwalugu UE/R, Textiles factory @ Akosombo, juapong, tema, Matches factory @ Kade E/R, DDT factory @ Abuakwa in Kumasi A/R, Jute factory @ Kumasi A/R for cocoa sacks, Factories for radios, TV,s , fridges branded as Akasanoma, Sanyo, fruit drinks @ Nsawam cannery E/R, glass factory @ Aboso W/R, Ceramics factory @ Saltpond C/R, Ghana had its own aircraft V C 10, cargo ships i.e. Black star line. We had Public works department ( PWD), State construction corporation ( SCC), State housing corporation ( SHC), Ghana food distribution corporation ( GFDC), Meat marketing board (MMB), Produce buying division ( PBD) , Omnibus services authority ( OSA), Cotton development board ( CDB), Tema shipyard and dry dock corporation ( TSDC), GIHOC, Bast fibres development board ( BFDB), Upper regional development corporation ( URADEP), Volta regional development corporation ( VORADEP), Northern regional rural integrated programme ( NORRIP), State fishing corporation ( SFC) etc. So called destroyers called politicians have collapsed all these. How will Ghana develop if you have these calibre of people leading a nation. 66 years on we are begging diplomats to intervene for us to get a self inflicted IMF bailout. A 66 year old man called Ghana who still have no sense of direction since he was born. Ours is flag and anthem independence. Ghana is yet to get a leader with a sense of direction to make the country a better place. In Ghana those who have ideas have no power, those who have power have no idea at all. Hmmmnnn