President Akufo-Addo’s address at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly meeting on Saturday may not be as exceptional as those praising it believe.
According to a former Deputy Communications Minister, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, former president John Mahama’s address at the 2014 UN General Assembly meeting in New York is by far the best by any Ghanaian leader.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Kwakye said, “in terms of UN speeches delivered by Ghanaian leaders, President Mahama’s speech delivered in 2014 at the height of the ebola crisis remains the best.”
President Akufo-Addo took his turn on Thursday to address world leaders with an emphatic call for reforms in the UN, where he indicated that Africa was on a path to economic prosperity, and that Ghana is leading in that progress.
He added that, although he was not against foreign aid, he believes in hard work and self reliance, and urged the world leaders to support Africa to aim for these.
““It is time Africa comes of age and holds its rightful place on the world stage. This Africa will be neither a poor nor a victim. This African will be honest to itself and the world. This Africa will shed the cloth of poverty and become prosperous. We are not under any illusion about the hard work that it will take to achieve our stated goals but we are not afraid of hard work. We know that a critical ingredient of making a sustainable economic progress is to ensure a stable democratic system of government. I believe we are making this progress in Ghana,” Akufo-Addo said.
While many have commended the president for his bold message to the leaders, some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who until January 2017 governed the country, have sought to compare Akufo-Addo’s address to that of Mahama delivered in 2014.
John Mahama, who was the Chair of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) in 2014, called on the world to see Ebola not as “…. a Liberian problem, or a Sierra Leonean or Guinean problem. It is not just a West African problem. Ebola is a problem that belongs to the world because it is a disease that knows no boundaries”.
He also called for cooperation between countries to conquer terrorism across the world.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana