How the Ghana Bar Association suggests Akufo-Addo convincingly 'breaks the 8'

The President of the Ghana Bar Association, Yaw Acheampong Boafo, has extended the hopes of his association to the sitting president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, regarding how he can personally break an 8.

This ‘breaking of the 8,’ according to the outgoing GBA president, is what pertains to the president’s loyalty to the Bar regarding its annual conferences.

Stating this during his address to the 2024 Annual General Conference in Kumasi, the GBA president recalled with a lot of pride and excitement, how committed President Akufo-Addo has been in attending the opening ceremonies for the conference every year.

He recalled the journey of the president from his days as the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, through to his very active years of being the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, to date.

Yaw Acheampong Boafo added that even in his presidency, Akufo-Addo has not missed a single opening ceremony of the Bar Conference, drawing in the NPP’s slogan of ‘breaking the 8’ to make a point that the president can achieve that feat personally even in retirement.

“As foreign minister, he attended the opening ceremony of every Bar Conference. As his party’s flagbearer, he again attended the opening ceremony of every Bar Conference. On assumption of the high office of the president of the republic, he has attended the opening ceremony of every Bar Conference and today, he makes his eighth appearance.

“His Excellency, the GBA is suggesting to you that it is possible for you to personally break your eight so that when you complete your constitutionally-mandated term as president of the republic, and retire from high office, you’ll still be attending Bar Conferences for as long as the good Lord allows you,” he said.

The Ghana Bar Association (GBA), a professional association of lawyers in Ghana, will also elect its next president at the event which is taking place at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) from Monday, 9 to Friday, 13 September 2024.

Speakers at the opening ceremony, beside President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, included the Chief Justice, Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo; the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Godfred Dame; and the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

The conference is on the theme, “Peaceful, Fair and Transparent Election; The Key to Sustainable Democracy.”

Meanwhile, catch up on the latest episode of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV as Etsey Atisu digs deep into the journey and stories of Esther Cobbah and her Stratcomm Africa company that is celebrating 30 years of existence, below:

AE