President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated categorically that Ghanaians have ran out of excuses to remain an underdeveloped nation after 60 years of independence from colonial rule.
“After sixty [60] years, we have ran out of excuses and it is time to set Ghana to rights and get our country to where it should be. The challenge before us is to build our economy and generate a prosperous, progressive and dignified life for the mass of our people. Hard work, enterprise, creativity and a consistent fight against corruption in public life would bring the transformation we seek,” he averred.
The president made the observation at the 6th March Independence Parade at the Black Star Square in Accra yesterday.
Against this backdrop, President Akufo-Addo urged Ghanaians to mobilise for a better future that will give every citizen equal opportunities to realise their potential
“Let us mobilise for the happy and prosperous Ghana of tomorrow, in which all of us, including our youth, our women and the vulnerable in our society, will have equal opportunities to realise their potential, and build lives of dignity. Then, our independence will be meaningful. Then, we will have a Ghana beyond aid,” President Akufo-Addo said.
The president while expressing hope that Ghanaians will “continue to make ourselves worthy inheritors of this land,” was also optimistic that the people can achieve the dreams of their forefathers.”
According to him, one of the cardinal motivations for the independence struggle by the nation’s forbearers was economic independence and prosperity for the citizenry, but that has not materialised after 60 years of self-rule.
He thus called on Ghanaians to be united in purpose and vision in order to achieve the objectives of the independence struggle.
“At independence, the popular slogan was to seek first the political kingdom and all other things would be added. We assumed and, indeed, we expected that rapid economic development would follow the political freedom that we achieved.
…Sadly, the economic dividend that was meant to accompany our freedom has still not materialised. Sixty years after those heady days, too many of our people continue to wallow in unacceptable poverty,” the president bemoaned.
“We will achieve these goals when we move and act as a united people. We must take pride in our diversity by all means, but the Ghanaian must always rise above the ethnic or sectional interest. We have a bright future and we must mobilise all our resources and all our strengths, here and in the Ghanaian Diaspora, to get to that Promised Land faster,” the president said.
On environmental degradation, President Akufo-Addo said: “It is turning out to be a constant refrain, but, on a day like this, we cannot ignore the state of our environment. We are endangering the very survival of the beautiful and blessed land that our forebears bequeathed to us. The dense forests, that were home to varied trees, plants and fauna, have largely disappeared. Today, we import timber for our use, and the description of our land as a tropical forest no longer fits the reality. Our rivers and lakes are disappearing, and those that still exist are all polluted.
“It bears repeating that we do not own the land, but hold it in trust for generations yet unborn. We have a right to exploit the bounties of the earth and extract the minerals and even redirect the path of the rivers, but we do not have the right to denude the land of the plants and fauna nor poison the rivers and lakes.”
The president also paid growing tribute to the founding fathers of the nation towards the independence struggle, acknowledging the men and women whose contributions have brought the nation to this point.
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