President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Wednesday granted letters of Commission to six new envoys, charging them to facilitate investments that would boost Ghana’s economic recovery agenda.
The six, all career diplomats, include the immediate past Director of State Protocol, Mr Samuel Yao Kumah, High Commissioner to Australia, Ms Doris Adzo Denyo Brese, Ambassador to the Czech Republic, and Mr Mohammed Habib Iddris, Ambassador to Kuwait.
The others were Mr Kingsford Amoako, Ambassador to Liberia, Mr Mark Michael Entsie, Ambassador to Libya and Mr Alex Wiredu Adu, Ambassador to Niger.
At a ceremony at the Jubilee House, Accra, President Akufo-Addo, after administering the Oaths of Allegiance, Secrecy, and the official oath, congratulated the envoys on their well-deserved appointments.
With their over two decades of experience in the foreign service, he said he was confident that they would make Ghana proud.
The President told the envoys that their appointments had come at a particularly important moment, where all countries, including Ghana, are working to return themselves to a state of normalcy, following the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, whose effects were worsened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He said the two events had brought to the fore the need for nations to strengthen and deepen alliances and cooperation because “no country can afford to go it alone…we either succeed together or perish together.”
“And this is where your work as High Commissioner and ambassadors would be needed most,” he stressed.
President Akufo-Addo said Ghana had begun the process of reviving its economy with the three-billion-dollar facility secured from the International Monetary Fund, to repair the country’s public finances that had taken a severe hit in very recent times.
“Whilst we continue to work on the medium to long-term structural changes that are the heart of our goal of creating a Ghana Beyond Aid, I am confident that with determination, hard work, unity and the proverbial Ghanaian sense of enterprise, we would succeed, we would make it and indeed, this too shall pass.
The President told the envoys that his administration’s unprecedented flagship initiative, the GH¢100 billion post-COVID-19 Ghana CARES Obaatanpa Programme geared to stabilise, revitalise and transform Ghana’s economy, must be the pivot around which they engaged the rest of the world.
They should, therefore, familiarise themselves with the objectives of the Programme, because they represented “our surest way out of the pandemic and would thrust Ghana back onto the path of progress and prosperity.”
“Each one of you must help and contribute to the success of the programme by facilitating amongst other things, as much foreign investment into the country as you can,” he implored.
President Akufo-Addo asked them to work with their host governments and multilateral stakeholders in the fight against armed conflicts, terrorism and violent extremism, the threats of climate change, and the illicit flow of funds from Africa.
He urged them to always promote the image of Ghana, whose reputation amongst the comity of nations continued to be high.
“You represent a country that as a result of the commendable conduct of the Ghanaian people, is regarded as one of the most stable on the African continent. It is a functioning democracy, governed by the rule of law, and respect for individual liberties, human rights, and the principles of democratic accountability.
“We are regarded as a beacon of democracy in Africa, you are the most visible symbol of our country out there. In all your actions, you must jealously guard our country’s image… I am confident this is a charge you would keep,” he said.
High Commissioner Kumah on behalf of his colleagues thanked the President for the opportunity to serve the country and for the confidence reposed in them.
“President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has found it worthy and pleasing to appoint us as High Commissioner and Ambassadors. We are, therefore, deeply grateful to him for the appointment to serve this great nation.
“We pledge to do the utmost that merits the trust and confidence that the President of the Republic has reposed in us. In so doing, we will be guided by our core mandate to promote and protect the interest of Ghana and her nationals abroad to the best of our abilities so help us God,” he pledged.
