President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo has appealed to 21 newly commissioned Ambassadors and High Commissioners to familiarize themselves with his government’s post-coronavirus recovery agenda and to champion same at their various destinations and duty post.
Addressing the newly commissioned Ambassadors and High Commissioners at the Jubilee House after administering the Oath of Allegiance, Official Oath and the Oath of Secrecy to them, President Akufo-Addo said the selection and appointment of the new Envoys have come at a time when the entire world has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic and are looking for the path to recovery.
Ghana, the President said has equally been hit by Coronavirus and the recovery of the nation should be the burden of members of the government which includes the Ambassadors and High Commissioners.
President Akufo-Addo stressed the fact that his government’s flagship programme, Obaatapa Cares and its main objectives must be the pivot around which the new Envoys ought to engage the rest of the world on behalf of Ghana.
The main elements of this programme (the Ghana Obaatapa cares) according to President Akufo-Addo, are; a. “Supporting commercial farming and attracting educated youth into commercial farming, b. Building the country’s line manufacturing sector, c. Developing engineering machine tools and digital economy industries, d. Fast-tracking digitalization, e. Developing Ghana’s housing and construction industry, f. Establishing Ghana as a regional hub, g. Reviewing and optimizing the implementation of government’s flagship and key programmes and h. Creating jobs for young people and expanding opportunities for the vulnerable in society”.
“Ambassadors and High Commissioners, you have to familiarize yourselves with this objective which are at the core of my second term mandate as they represent our surest way out of the pandemic and which will thrust Ghana back to the path of progress and prosperity”.
“Each one of you must help and contribute to the success of this programme by facilitating as much foreign investment into the country as you can” President Akufo-Addo admonished the envoys.
In a response to the President’s charge, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, on behalf of his colleagues assured the President that they will work extremely hard to help the recovery process of the country from the impact of coronavirus.
“We wish to assure that we will work assiduously to justify the confidence that you have reposed in us by our appointment and worthy representatives of Ghana”
The Envoys
The twenty-one Ambassadors and High Commissioners who were commissioned include: Ms. Khadija Iddrisu, High Commissioner to the Republic of Zambia, Mr. Kwabena Okubi-Appiah, Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia, Oheneba Dr. Lesley Akyaa Opoku-Ware, Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Obed Boamah Akwa (Rtd), Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mr. Charles Asuako Owiredu, High Commissioner to the Republic of South Africa, Mr. Francis Danti Kotia, Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mrs. Francisca Ashietey-Odunton, Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan, Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Napoleon Abdulai, Ambassador to the Republic of Mali, and Mrs. Sylvia Naa Adaawa Annoh, Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark.
The rest are Madam Barbara Akuorkor Benisa, High Commissioner to the Republic Of Malta, Ms. Alima Mahama (Hajia), Ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Yakubu Alhassan, High Commissioner to the Republic of Namibia, Mr. Samuel Yaw Nsiah, Ambassador to the Republic of Cuba, Madam Christine Churcher, Ambassador to the Republic of Benin, Mr. Damptey Bediako Asare, High Commissioner to the Republic of Kenya, Alhaji Mohammad Habibu Tijani, Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mrs. Charis Obestebi-Lamptey-Zwennes, Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Mr. Michael Ofori –Atta, Ambassador – At -Large, and Mr. Emmanuel Kwame Asiedu Antwi, Ambassador In Situ (Chief Of Protocol).