Members of the Ghanaian Community and citizens of other countries who normally have to deal with the Mission in NY or Washington DC for services of the Ghana Embassy in the United States Of America, USA, will heave a sigh of relief when the Ghana Mission here extend Honorary Consular Services later this year to five cities in the USA . The Ghana mission will divide the USA into the Eastern, Central, Mid-West, Southern and Western corridors to handle Honorary Consular Services. The cities that will serve these corridors are, Chicago, Houston, Boston, Atlanta and Los Angeles or San Francisco. This was announced by H.E Daniel Daniel Ohene Agyekum at the Ramada Hotel, 4900 S Beach Drive on Saturday, May 15 2010 when he met with the Ghanaian Community here in a townhall meeting arranged by the Ghana National Council of Metropolitan Chicago, GNC.
The unassuming and straight talking Ambassador also informed the unusually small audience that Ghana has faced off the handwritten Passports on the 25th of April this year whilst gearing to meet the international deadline to go entirely biometric in the year 2015. By 2015 all the current Readable Passports in use will be proscribed from the system.
The meeting was the first between the new Ambassador and the Ghanaian Community in Chicago. Mr. Agyekum came to Chicago with his beautiful wife, Rose Agyekum ,to honor the USA Department of state sponsored tour of Chicago for all heads of missions in the USA but used the opportunity to meet and interact with the Ghanaian community in Chicago. “I will not waste any opportunity to meet and interact with Ghanaians when I get the least opportunity” Mr. Agyekum confessed. The audience asked the ambassador questions about development programs of the government, corruption, high Road accidents and the high mortality from these accidents, handling of the new found oil revenue and their personal experiences with civil service personnel in Ghana. Whilst a member of the audience wants to know who pays for the mobile phones of ministers and officials of the numerous government officials roaming around the world.Others queried the ambassador on what the government is doing about the erratic electricity supply in the country and what the government is doing about environmental pollution going on in the country! Mr. Kwame Ampofo, ceremonial chief of the Ewe community in Chicago narrated a horrifying experience he had in Ghana when he cleared a car at the Tema Harbor recently. Mr. Ampofo claimed that after a rather cumbersome procedures and frustration, he ended up paying Twelve Thousand US Dollars ($12000.00) and wondered if that amount was paid into the Government coffers! “Couldn’t there be a system where such fees paid into government chest be verified independently?” a member in the audience thought this aloud to this reporter!
Mr. Agyekum praised the leadership and the Ghanaian community here for maintaining a united,strong and viable community. He informed the audience that though the government of Attah Mills inherited a very dire economy, it is doing everything possible to bring the country’s economy on course. He explained that in the present day, it is more prudent to harness the energy of the Sun and wind for electricity than hydro electric power. In the light of that, the Mills government has contracted with companies already on the ground in the Northern part on the country exploring sites to build solar panels to generate commercial electricity for the country. He also mentioned that the government is investing in solar panels to extract salt in commercial quantities at Pambros in Accra. Mr. Agyekum asked the community to take advantage of the Dual Citizen Law because it is their entitlement. In a response to a question about how the government intends to manage the newly found oil revenue, Mr. Agyekum explained, that “Personally, I prefer the Norwegian system of managing their oil revenue where they use the income generated for development and investment in future generations” He continued that “It must be managed efficiently, transparently and effectively “
Earlier the President of the GNC , John Henry –Assabill took the opportunity of the ambassadors presence to invite him to this year’s Ghanafest. The ambassador promised not only to attend the festival will also mount a boot to explain some policy initiatives and products of Ghana at the festival. Ghanafest is scheduled on July 31 2010 in Chicago. Mr. Assabill also asked the Ambassador to consider linking the embassy website to the GNC website, ghananationalcouncil.org, and vice versa. He informed the ambassador that the GNC website generates over 40,000 hits daily during its peak period after Ghanafest.
Reverend Dr. Kofi Noonoo prayed for the Lords guidance of the Mills government and the success of the meeting whilst Steve Dei, a member of the GNC executive body moderated the function.
Members of the Ghanaian Community and citizens of other countries who normally have to deal with the Mission in NY or Washington DC for services of the Ghana Embassy in the United States Of America, USA, will heave a sigh of relief when the Ghana Mission here extend Honorary Consular Services later this year to five cities in the USA . The Ghana mission will divide the USA into the Eastern, Central, Mid-West, Southern and Western corridors to handle Honorary Consular Services. The cities that will serve these corridors are, Chicago, Houston, Boston, Atlanta and Los Angeles or San Francisco. This was announced by H.E Daniel Daniel Ohene Agyekum at the Ramada Hotel, 4900 S Beach Drive on Saturday, May 15 2010 when he met with the Ghanaian Community here in a townhall meeting arranged by the Ghana National Council of Metropolitan Chicago, GNC.
The unassuming and straight talking Ambassador also informed the unusually small audience that Ghana has faced off the handwritten Passports on the 25th of April this year whilst gearing to meet the international deadline to go entirely biometric in the year 2015. By 2015 all the current Readable Passports in use will be proscribed from the system.
The meeting was the first between the new Ambassador and the Ghanaian Community in Chicago. Mr. Agyekum came to Chicago with his beautiful wife, Rose Agyekum ,to honor the USA Department of state sponsored tour of Chicago for all heads of missions in the USA but used the opportunity to meet and interact with the Ghanaian community in Chicago. “I will not waste any opportunity to meet and interact with Ghanaians when I get the least opportunity” Mr. Agyekum confessed. The audience asked the ambassador questions about development programs of the government, corruption, high Road accidents and the high mortality from these accidents, handling of the new found oil revenue and their personal experiences with civil service personnel in Ghana. Whilst a member of the audience wants to know who pays for the mobile phones of ministers and officials of the numerous government officials roaming around the world.Others queried the ambassador on what the government is doing about the erratic electricity supply in the country and what the government is doing about environmental pollution going on in the country! Mr. Kwame Ampofo, ceremonial chief of the Ewe community in Chicago narrated a horrifying experience he had in Ghana when he cleared a car at the Tema Harbor recently. Mr. Ampofo claimed that after a rather cumbersome procedures and frustration, he ended up paying Twelve Thousand US Dollars ($12000.00) and wondered if that amount was paid into the Government coffers! “Couldn’t there be a system where such fees paid into government chest be verified independently?” a member in the audience thought this aloud to this reporter!
Mr. Agyekum praised the leadership and the Ghanaian community here for maintaining a united,strong and viable community. He informed the audience that though the government of Attah Mills inherited a very dire economy, it is doing everything possible to bring the country’s economy on course. He explained that in the present day, it is more prudent to harness the energy of the Sun and wind for electricity than hydro electric power. In the light of that, the Mills government has contracted with companies already on the ground in the Northern part on the country exploring sites to build solar panels to generate commercial electricity for the country. He also mentioned that the government is investing in solar panels to extract salt in commercial quantities at Pambros in Accra. Mr. Agyekum asked the community to take advantage of the Dual Citizen Law because it is their entitlement. In a response to a question about how the government intends to manage the newly found oil revenue, Mr. Agyekum explained, that “Personally, I prefer the Norwegian system of managing their oil revenue where they use the income generated for development and investment in future generations” He continued that “It must be managed efficiently, transparently and effectively “
Earlier the President of the GNC , John Henry –Assabill took the opportunity of the ambassadors presence to invite him to this year’s Ghanafest. The ambassador promised not only to attend the festival will also mount a boot to explain some policy initiatives and products of Ghana at the festival. Ghanafest is scheduled on July 31 2010 in Chicago. Mr. Assabill also asked the Ambassador to consider linking the embassy website to the GNC website, ghananationalcouncil.org, and vice versa. He informed the ambassador that the GNC website generates over 40,000 hits daily during its peak period after Ghanafest.
Reverend Dr. Kofi Noonoo prayed for the Lords guidance of the Mills government and the success of the meeting whilst Steve Dei, a member of the GNC executive body moderated the function.
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