Be thankful; celebrate responsibly – Akufo-Addo’s Christmas message

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged Ghanaians to be grateful to God, especially for the successes of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government within the past year.

President Akufo-Addo, who released a Christmas message calling on Ghanaians to rededicate themselves to Jesus Christ and embrace the values of Christianity also charged Ghanaians to show appreciation to God for the myriad of feats by government.

According to him “we have good reason to be thankful to God for the modest successes we’ve chalked over the course of 2019. 1.2 million of our children have today, unfettered access to Senior High School education, the highest enrollment in our history”.

He continued: “We have revived our health care system; we have had a bumper harvest for two years in succession with food prices at their lowest in years. Tens and tens of thousands of teachers, health workers, graduates and non-graduates alike have been given jobs. We have retooled and reequipped our police service and armed forces to a considerable extent. Our economy is the fastest-growing economies in the world this year and we are the largest recipient of foreign direct investment this year.”

“So, let us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ safely and responsibly and avoid doing anything that will put our lives and the lives of our loved ones and others in harm’s way. Let us be a blessing in the lives of those in need,” he said.

He highlighted the importance of the banking sector cleanup within the year despite the “discomfort to many a household”. Nonetheless, he said 6500 jobs were saved instead of the 10,000 that would have been lost.

The financial sector reforms spearheaded by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) resulted in nine banks, 347 microfinance companies, 23 savings and loans and some finance houses losing their licence. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) climaxed the cleanup with the revocation of the licenses of 53 investment companies.

Mr Akufo-Addo disclosed that: “Investigations into potential criminal conduct are proceeding as it appears there has been a massive diversion of assets of these financial institutions”.

He said the outcome of the processes will be made public and culpable individuals will be sanctioned.

Meanwhile, Mr Akufo-Addo has also called on Ghanaians to ensure free and fair elections in the upcoming 2020 presidential and parliamentary polls.

He urged Ghanaians to vote in peace in order to “reinforce Ghana’s status as a beacon of democracy”.