Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has praised President Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration for performing to expectation.

That, he said, had caught not only the attention of Ghanaians or foreigners in Ghana, but high-profile world leaders.

The former president was speaking to the media yesterday, December 8, in Accra on the occasion of his 79th birthday celebration.

He celebrated the day with 20 children made up of orphans, abandoned and vulnerable kids from the Asiakwa SOS Village in the Eastern Region, to whom he donated learning materials through his JAK Foundation.

According to Mr. Kufuor, the number of foreign leaders who had visited Ghana this year alone was unprecedented, adding that that had not happened before in the history of the country.

Such visits, the ex-president noted, were clear indications that the current government is doing the right thing as far as managing the affairs of the state is concerned.

Visitors’ List

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Accra on Thursday, November 30, for a day’s official visit.

His visit was the first by a French President, and formed part of Mr Macron’s three-nation tour of Africa – which took him to Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

Earlier, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had visited Ghana for a two-day visit.

His visit, which was the first of a Dutch PM to Ghana, coincided with that of Mr Macron’s, making Accra host two powerful world leaders in a day.

Before the visits of the French President and the Dutch Prime Minister, the Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II, had also arrived in Ghana for a two-day state visit. President Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire did same.

Also in the country were the Estonian President, Khersty Kaljulaid and the Italian Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni.

President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is also expected in Ghana on Monday, 11 December, 2017, for a three-day visit.

President Kufuor explained that President Akufo-Addo’s administration is doing something great which is catching the attention of such leaders.

Potentials

Mr. Kufuor further pointed out that Ghana has a lot of potentials for development and urged Ghanaians to exercise patience with the government as it works to make the country better.

Revisiting his ‘Akufo-Addo government is not cassava to mature in six months’ comment, Mr Kufuor explained that government has done a lot in its first-year and underscored that just as it can even take cassava sometime to mature, it will also take the government sometime to get everything right as the citizens want.




Remain Vigilant

He pleaded with the media to appreciate government’s policies and initiatives and analyze them from objective rather than ‘bias’ viewpoints.

The former president again urged the media to continue to play their watchdog role effectively over the government to ensure that it does not lose track in delivering its mandate to the citizens.

“You don’t take your eyes off the performance of government so the government will not forget itself; government will not allow power to get into its head to begin to behave like it’s the end of wisdom, it’s the end of power,” he said.

According to him, “You have to keep the government on its toes to do the right thing. The responsibility is not only on government, it’s also on the people.”

Osafo-Maafo Confesses

Earlier, Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo, who served as Finance Minister under ex-President Kufuor, had confessed that no government had really managed the economy of Ghana as the Akufo-Addo administration has done within just a period of one year.

Delivering a keynote address at the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC’s) Club 100 Awards on November 30, this year, the senior minister recounted that during his tenure as finance minister, he and his colleague finance ministers from across Africa had to resort to begging to book appointment with their counterparts from the western world at international economic summits organized by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in New York and other cities overseas.

However, he said, this year when a delegation from Ghana’s economic management team – headed by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia – and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta visited New York for IMF summit, it was rather finance ministers from Europe and other parts of the world that were begging to book an appointment with Mr Ofori-Atta.

According to him, that was a testimony that world leaders had seen great potentials in the country’s economic management team.