Accra, Feb. 2, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor has congratulated Professor Akua Kuenyehia and three other Ghanaians on their appointment to serve on international organisations. Professor Kuenyehia has been elected Vice President of the International Criminal Court for a nine-year term.

The others are Mr Ike Duker, the new Regional Head of Crown Agents, a British Global Procurement firm, Mr Albert Essien, Head of the West African Monetary Zone and Professor Ken Agyeman Attafuah, who has been appointed to the United Nations Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Liberia.

Mr Duker until his present appointment was the Country Director of the firm, and would now be based in Kenya, while Mr Essien was former Managing Director of ECOBANK and President of the Ghana Institution of Bankers.

Professor Attafuah was a lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and served as Executive Secretary of National Reconciliation Commission (NRC). Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson, told a Castle press briefing on Thursday that President Kufuor wished them well in their new positions. He said their appointments should inspire all Ghanaians to continue to have self-confidence and to work hard.

Mr Agyepong, who answered a wide range of questions from reporters on the President's State of the Nation Address, said President Kufuor had followed with interest the public discourse on the address and remained focussed and resolved on the Government's development agenda. He pointed out that the State of the Nation address in essence should indicate the direction the President would want the country to move and gave a cursory look at what had happened, saying President Kufuor did exactly that and his presentation was based on facts. The handling and management of the economy were right and significant progress had been achieved, he said, adding that the results were beginning to show.

The Government, he said, would continue to engage the private sector and the business community to push ahead with innovative ways to achieve the vision of a middle-income status by 2015. On warnings by the Minority parties that there would be mayhem if the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill were passed by Parliament, Mr Agyepong said the days of impudence were over and that the laws would be strictly applied to deal with those who might attempt to cause chaos.

The Press Secretary said the concerns they had raised were matters that could be effectively sorted out by the Electoral Commission (EC) and by the Inter-Party Advisory Committee.