Accra, March 21, GNA - Government on Tuesday said it was restoring official protocol courtesies, which it previously withdrew from Former President Jerry John Rawlings.

The Government in 2002 withdrew the protocol courtesies it had extended to the Ex-President Rawlings citing extreme provocation and 'unguided utterances'.

A statement Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Foreign Minister signed said: "Government is of the view that the time is now ripe to restore these courtesies in the expectation that this gesture will help not only to reinforce the dignity of the status of a Former President of Ghana, but also to improve the political atmosphere in the country."

Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated the commitment of the Government to national reconciliation, which it said ought to be "mutual in intent and scope if it was to succeed.

"It is Government's sincere hope that the circumstances that compelled Government to act initially will not be repeated so that the institutions of our State can operate on a normal basis," the statement said.

According to a source at the Ministry the courtesies include sending officers of Ghanaian High Commissions and Embassies to the airport to meet him any time Former President Rawlings was visiting the particular country and according him all the necessary courtesies given to visiting high ranking Government Officials.