President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has eulogised the contributions of key iconic indigenes of the Volta region to the discourse of national development, cohesion, and growth.
He mentioned Dr Ephraim Amu and Dr Philip Gbeho, who have separately composed exceptional music that had stood the test of time and shaped lives.
The duo composed the “Miadenyigba lolor la,” (Take pride of our homeland and culture) and Ghana’s cherished National Anthem.
President Akufo-Addo said these when he addressed the 66th Independence Day parade at the Volta Regional Youth Centre at Adaklu near Ho, on the theme, “Our Unity, Our Strength, Our Purpose.”
His special guest for the event was President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea Bissau, who doubles as the Chair of ECOWAS.
Closely flanked to President Akufo-Addo was the first Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia and his wife Samira Bawumia amidst other dignitaries.
He named Daniel Chapman Nyaho, Ghana’s most eminent administrator, who at independence secured a seamless transition for the country, when the British; the Reverend Ametorworbla, the powerful orator, a priest, and a politician; Esther Ocloo of Nkulenu fame, a trailblazer, an entrepreneur, and industrialist extraordinaire, whose entrepreneurial spirit still lived on.
Others were Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, Ghana’s first Finance Minister and one of the founding fathers of our nation, and the charismatic leader, Jerry John Rawlings, the first President of the fourth Republic and Ghana’s longest serving head of state.
President Akufo-Addo acknowledged the collective and exceptional contributions of these gallant Voltarians to nation-building and development.
He said the “greatest achievement of our independence is that we have molded different ethnic identities into one nation although the Gold Coast was a precursor to our independent Ghana, it was a commission and collection of despairing goods, the attainment of independence has given us an identity as Ghanaians.”
He said an important historical fact is that while the different people that formed a modern nation, it was only the people of Volta and Oti and part of the current Northern regions, who had the unique opportunity to choose and join the territory that became Ghana at Independence.
He said the 1946 Plebiscite, in which on May 9, the people of the then Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast led to the attainment of Independence a year later.
“Today we celebrate the anniversary of the day, we achieve the enviable status of becoming the first country in Sub Saharan Africa to be free of colonial rule and with this came the weighty obligation to permanent as a barometer of the continent’s progress.”
Sixty years down the line, President Akufo-Addo said “we have worked hard to live up to this responsibility even though we acknowledged the full potentials of the dreams and aspirations of our forebears, who fought for independent Ghana, these has not been fully attained.
He said the theme for the 66th anniversary should impugn in Ghanaians the constant desires to seek for the progress, prosperity, growth, and development of the country.
The celebration was graced by people from all levels of society, including Diplomats, high government officials, civil and public servants, heads of security agencies, Chiefs and Queen mothers and school children.
President Akufo-Addo has institutionalized the rotation of the National event among the regions to give it a taste at the regional level and bring development closer to the people, an event that was constantly held at the Independence Square in Accra since 1957.
Three capitals, namely, Tamale, Kumasi, and Central have had their turn to host the national event with Volta hosting the 66th national parade.
GNA