President Akufo-Addo has assured members of the Diplomatic Community in Ghana that his administration will ensure that the affairs of the Nation are managed properly to avoid any form of retrogression as has been experienced in recent past in the country.

Addressing members of the Diplomatic Corps in Ghana at the forecourt of the Jubilee House at the Annual “Diplomatic New Year Greeting Ceremony”, President Akufo-Addo said his administration is pursuing policies that would cause Ghana to emerge as a modern prosperous nation.

“It is time that the disarray in our public finances that has led us on seventeen separate occasions beginning in the year of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the most recent one in March 2015 under President John Dramani Mahama, be brought to an end so that we do not have to result to the aid of IMF. We are determined not to go back to IMF tutelage again. We will manage our affairs properly. That is the true import of moving to a “Ghana Beyond Aid” President Akufo Addo said.

The Peace of Dagbon

Touching on Dagbon, the President said he is glad to report to the Diplomatic Community in Ghana that “the two decade old chieftaincy crisis in Dagbon, in the Northern Region of our Country which threatened the peace and stability of the area and of the Nation has now happily been brought to a resolution by the Enskinnment of a new overlord of Dagbon, Ya Naa Mahama Abukari II, an experienced matured man who I am confident will succeed in promoting the reconciliation of the people of Dagbon. This should be the harbinger of accelerated growth and development for the area and our Nation” the President noted.

The Year of Return

On the upcoming celebration in Ghana of what has been dubbed, “The Year of Return”, symbolising the four hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the first West African slaves in the commonwealth of Virginia in the United States of America, which has been set aside to welcome persons of African decent from the Americas and the Caribbean islands for a commemorative event, President Akufo Addo appealed to the Diplomatic Corps to join hands will Ghana to ensure that the event succeeds in order to “solidify the will of the African people never again to suffer such indignity and horror”.

Foreign Minister

In her address, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, observed that the year 2019 will see her Ministry working much closer with the diplomatic community in order strengthen relations between their respective countries and Ghana. She assured the Diplomats that the Foreign Ministry will leave no stone unturned in support their work and activities in Ghana.