Ghana Marks 47 Yrs Anniversary With Pomp in Togo

Ghana's unassuming Ambassador, Kwabena Mensa-Bonsu, is a man of very few words.

But on the occasion of Ghana's 47th Independence anniversary, the Ghanaian Ambassador found appropriate words to enthuse the large crowd of foreign diplomats and entourage of Togolese businessmen to espouse the landmarks of what he described as "the three years of positive change in Ghana under the administration of President John Agyekum Kufuor."

Ambassador Kwabena Mensa-Bonsu is also the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Togo.

"The positive change began on the 7th of January 2001, when the government of His Excellency President John Agyekum Kufuor acceded to power after a democratically conducted parliamentary and Presidential elections," he began.

The Ghanaian Ambassador told the impressive large audience this was the first time in Ghana's history that a democratically elected government had been allowed to complete its term and hand over power to another democratically elected government.

"This democratic re-birth, after decades of decline, has been described as the second independence," Ambassador Kwabena Mensa-Bonsu declared.

He enumerated several measures undertaken by President Kufuor to achieve positive change in Ghana.

These included the Ghana poverty reduction strategy, making the private sector the engine of economic growth, and the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative which the Ambassador said was initially misunderstood but which has yielded much dividends.

These measures, he said, are being completed with the President's Special Initiative on selected items like cassava, garment, palm oil and salt.

"The initiative aims at devoting special attention to the development of those items to provide mass employment creation, export revenue generation, value added manufacturing activity," he declared.

Ambassador Mensa-Bonsu stressed that in carrying out these measures, the government has not showed away from talking unpopular but necessary measures like the renewal of subsidies on fuel prices and utilities tariffs, making sure that it keeps expenditure under control.

"Significantly the government has managed, for the first time, to build up reserves to cater for four months import cover," Ambassador Mensa-Bonsu said.

He mentioned the several infrastructural developments, the main arterial roads which link the country to her Ecowas neighbours and the numerous inroads made in the domain of agriculture, the mainstay of the country's economy, as some of the major success of the government.

"To increase and stabilised the earnings of farmers, the government is encouraging individuals to establish agro-processing industries by offering such industries a five-year tax holiday," he said.

Ambassador Kwabena Mensa-Bonsu identified the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights, the abolition of the criminal libel law under which journalist were capriciously prosecuted, the rule of law, democracy and good governace as some of the pillars of the Kufuor administration.

On the international scene Ghana continues to play an active in the quest for world peace, security and economic development, especially in the sub-region.

He made a positive observation about Ghana-Togo relations.

He said the sour relations that existed between Ghana and some of his immediate neighbours have greatly improved.

"Our relations with Togo, in particular, have grown from strength to strength based upon genuine friendship, mutual respective and co-operation," he said.

Amidst drumming, and dancing by Ghanaian cultural troupes including the famous Abibigromma Group, Ambassador Mensa-Bonsu clad in a rich kente cloth said, "Our relations with Togo, in particular have grown from strength to strength based upon on genuine friendship, mutual respect and co-operation characterised by many consultations between our two Heads of State, their Excellencies Presidents Eyad?ma and Kufuor through whose untiring efforts the positive change in our relations have come about," he concluded against the background of the clinking of glasses to the toast of Ghana Togo relations.