Akufo-Addo demands nuclear weapon free world

President Nana Akufo-Addo has told the international community that even though Ghana remains one of the few countries in Africa with a nuclear reactor, the West African country is dedicated to remaining nuclear weapon-free.

“Africa and indeed Ghana remains committed to remaining a nuclear weapon-free continent,” he indicated in a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, 21 September.

He revealed that three weeks prior to the UN Summit, “highly enriched uranium was flown out of Ghana back to China, signaling the end of the removal of all such material from the country”.

The Ghanaian leader said Ghana’s nuclear reactor has been converted to use low-enriched fuel for power generation, adding: “A world free of nuclear weapons must be in all our collective interest”.

The UN Nations has embarked on a mission to ensure that member countries and all other countries across the globe do not stockpile nuclear weapons due to their enormous devastating effects.

In addition to his demand, the Ghanaian leader stated emphatically that Ghana does not want to continue living on handouts and charity.

“We don’t want to be a scar on anybody’s conscience,” he said, adding: “We want to build an economy that is not dependent on charity and handouts.”

“Long and bitter experience have taught us that no matter how generous a charity, we would remain poor,” the Ghanaian leader said, insisting: “We want to build a Ghana which looks to the use of its own resources and their proper management as the way to engineer social and economic growth in our country.”

He continued: “We want to build an economy that looks past commodities to position our country in the global market place.”

“We are not disclaiming aid, but we do want to discard a mindset of dependency and living on handouts. We want to build a Ghana beyond aid. It is an easier platform on which to build sustainable relationships,” Mr Akufo-Addo explained.