President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed the country’s gratitude to Rotary International for its contribution to the development of the country.
He said the international charity organisation had supported the country in the areas of education, health, and social services like water and sanitation, and commended members of the organisation for their efforts.
President Akufo-Addo made these remarks when the President of Rotary International, Shekhar Meehta, called on him at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.
He said although the membership of the organisation in Ghana was not overwhelming, the quality of the people involved in activities of Rotary and their contribution to nation building were commendable.
“We appreciate very much the contribution that Rotary makes,” he said and gave the organisation the credit for its support to the complete eradication of polio from Africa.
President Akufo-Addo further commended Rotary International for its involvement in the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and for adding its voice for the equity and even distribution of vaccines around the world.
“We want to vaccinate 20 million people in Ghana by the end of this year. The population of the country, today, is somewhere around 30 million and if we take about a third of that to be young people, 20 million represent the adult population and if we can achieve that target, we will get very near to herd immunity,” he said
On the global shortage of the COVID-19 vaccines, he expressed concerns that some countries around the world were hoarding the vaccines while several others did not have it.
“That is the drama in which we are living. But we are beginning to find our way out of it. Increasingly, the supply situation is getting better,” he said.
With some parts of the world free of the virus while others still had it, he said the pandemic would continue to exist until there was a global effort to get everyone vaccinated.
Mr Meehta, on his part, said Rotary International had about 1.2 million members in nearly 200 countries around the world who were involved in charitable and philanthropic activities.
He said the organisation would continue to support countries around the world with the COVID-19 vaccination and fight the injustice in the supply of the vaccines.
BY YAW KYEI