Ambassador Agyekum's recent visit to Atlanta

Ambassador Ohene Agyekum On Obimanso Radio And Town Hall Meeting With Ghanaians In Atlanta Georgia

Once again, H.E. Ohene Agyekum has demonstrated that the Better Ghana Agenda of President Mills led Government to see all Ghanaians as one people with a common goal of building a sound and united country devoid of tribalism or ethnicity is not only a rhetoric, as he availed himself to meet Ghanaians during a Town Hall Meeting in Atlanta, the second time in four months and the first of it kind by any Ambassador to the USA. Prior to the town hall meeting, Ambassador Ohene Agyekum was a guest on Obimanso Radio, an Atlanta based Ghanaian Radio Station owned by Mr. Adu Kesse where he was quizzed on a wide range of issues about Ghana by the host of the program and subsequently by callers.











The Ambassador and with his wife Mrs. Agyekum met Ghanaians in a town hall meeting, which was organized through the instrumentality of Dr. Bismark Sarfo, a Senior Research Fellow at Morehouse School of Medicine and Mr. Samuel Asinor among other members of the organizing committee, and in conjunction with Obimanso radio, and was held at the independence hall of the Marriot Hotel in Gwinnett.











The Town hall meeting brought some of the traditional leaders including Nana Kofi Adoma Twum, known in private as Mr. Adoma Kumi, Krontihene of Dorma Ankobea Kwaebibirem in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana and also the President of the Council of Chiefs in Georgia; Nii Martey-Quao, known in private as Mr. Badi Murphy, Nkosuohene of Prampram in the Eastern Region of Ghana and Princess Aba Ngo Massoma, wife of Nana Adoma Twum. Other dignitaries included Mr. Sam Barbah, former Consular of Atlanta who has been very supportive of Ghanaian activities in Atlanta, and other businessmen.





Nana Kofi Adoma Twum chaired the meeting and it commenced with an inspirational prayer by Pastor Bossman Asante, Head Pastor of The Praise Harvest Church in Atlanta.

Mr. Richard Aikins who was the MC for the occasion, after introducing the chairman led a minute silence as outlined in the program in memory of Nana Poku, a Ghanaian who was recently shot dead in Atlanta.





Nana Adoma Twum, after accepting to be the chair for the event minced no words in praising Ambassador Agyekum for visiting Atlanta twice in four months and his readiness to unite all Ghanaians in US. He then cataloged some of the achievements and investments of the Ghanaian Council of Chiefs in Georgia and the massive developmental contributions the council has offered the people of Ghana thus far through various mechanisms.











Mrs. Mary Nanor, Vice President of Ghanaian Women Association of Georgia also enumerated some of the achievements of the association including how the group recently shipped various items such as clothes to the people of Takoradi in Ghana, and how the association has been showcasing the rich Ghanaian culture through picnics in Atlanta. She encouraged Ghanaian Women in Georgia to join the association so that together they can all help in empowering Ghanaian women back home and in the Diaspora.











When the Ambassador took the stage, he stated that Ghana has been afforded one more chance by God to have a major infrastructural development by the discovery of oil in commercial quantities and all Ghana has to do as a nation is to put the right policies in place to insure the judicious use of the oil’s revenue. This he said will be possible if we all throw our weights behind the president, whom he described as an honest leader who has the welfare of the people of Ghana at heart.

He said President Mills led administration is working hard to see the future of Ghana fast tracked to the ICT stage with much emphasis on Education. Ambassador Ohene Agyekum mentioned the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), increase in financial support for the school feeding programs, provision of free school uniforms, stabilization of the cedi, attainment of single digit inflation, massive construction of roads and classrooms and revamping of the rail way system among others as the successes chalked so far by the NDC government. He also touched on the dual citizenship as well as the newly introduced Biometric passports. He assured all about his readiness to help as a facilitator for those with genuine intention of investing in Ghana.





During questions and answers session Mr. Andy Osei asked about what is being done to check missing passports sent to the embassy as well as Government’s efforts in checking bribery? Reacting, the Ambassador made it clear that strategies have been instituted to check the missing passport issues and on bribery, he said the fight against the menace is very dear to the heart of President Mills for which reason the agencies in charge are being well resourced to fight this problem.





On his part Mr. Charles Appeadu stated the need for Government to tap the expertise of Ghanaians abroad who have distinguished themselves in various professional fields to help in developing Ghana. Also to add his voice was Mr. Bando, who suggested the creation of schools solely for Information Technology, right from the basic level to the tertiary level so as to have well refined I.T technocrats as products who will help push Ghana into the ICT age. Many questions were asked on variety of issues but the chairman was compelled to end the meeting since it was getting late into the night. The Ambassador was very impressed with the zeal and enthusiasm expressed by Ghanaians in Georgia on issues about Ghana and promised to make himself available to the community in Georgia whenever there is the opportunity. The meeting was brought to a close with a prayer by Pastor Owusu Sekyere and benediction by Pastor Eric Boatey.











Source; EDEM KPLIVI.