National Honors and Awards devoid of partisan, ethnic or religious considerations - Akufo-Addo

The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has revealed that the National Honours Awards was devoid of partisan, ethnic or religious considerations.

Some selected Ghanaians were honoured on Tuesday, March 14 in recognition of the services offered to the growth, development, progress and prosperity of Ghana.

In a Facebook post after the event, Akufo-Addo expressed delight in not knowing the political sympathies or views of the overwhelming majority of the awardees.

“I, as the President of the Republic, the Fount of Honour, act as the Head of State, and not as Head of Government, in the distribution of awards. I can happily say that I am not aware of the political sympathies or views of the overwhelming majority of today’s awardees. Their politics is of no moment to me, only their exploits in favour of Mother Ghana,” Akufo-Addo said in a Facebook post.

Read full Facebook post from President below:

On Tuesday, 14th March 2023, on behalf of the Ghanaian people and their government, I expressed the gratitude of the nation to the men and women who were entrusted with the responsibility of keeping us safe at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, to our foreign friends and partners who aided us in that enterprise, to the men and women who made sure that the maritime boundary dispute with our immediate, western neighbour, the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, ended favourably for the Republic of Ghana, thereby, ensuring that our western maritime resources, including its oil and gas potential, rightfully remained in our possession.

Apart from these two main categories of awardees, that is the COVID and ITLOS awardees, there is a third category of awardees of a few individuals whose work deserve the plaudits of the nation.

They are the late great philosopher, Prof. Johnson Kwame Wiredu, by common consent one of the outstanding philosophers of global repute of the modern age, who will be given a befitting posthumous award, Order of the Volta – Companion. The rest are Ms. Margaret Sophia Darkwah, the first female Commissioner of Police; Prof. Akwasi Osei, former Chief Executive of the Mental Health Authority; and Dr. Veronica Agartha Martinson, former Executive Director of the Cocoa Research Institute, Ghana.

It is important to state that today’s awards ceremony is a purely national event, devoid of partisan, ethnic or religious considerations, and organised solely in recognition of the services offered by its recipients to the growth, development, progress and prosperity of Ghana.

I, as the President of the Republic, the Fount of Honour, act as the Head of State, and not as Head of Government, in the distribution of awards. I can happily say that I am not aware of the political sympathies or views of the overwhelming majority of today’s awardees. Their politics is of no moment to me, only their exploits in favour of Mother Ghana.