President John Dramani Mahama has recounted Ghana’s role as the trail-blazer in Africa on account of her leading role in virtually all the political activities of the continent stressing that the Nkrumah regime witnessed the struggle for independence from colonial masters that was replicated in most African countries.

"Unfortunately, Ghana also took a leading role in the declaration of coup d'etats in Africa that was again emulated by other African countries and now the democratization of Ghana since 1993 has set the agenda for others", Mr. Mahama also noted.

The Head of state made these observations when he addressed Black Solicitors network in London on: “Ghana Politics and Economic Growth: A Journey to success."

The programme was attended by a great number of Solicitors from across Africa and the Carribean. President Mahama said although Ghana was part of the coup d'etats era that he described as the lost decades, the recovered swiftly after holding its first general election in 1992.

He said: “In the first general election after the coups, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) won power for eight years and lost power to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2000, who also held power for eight years before losing in 2008 to NDC again."

The smooth transfer of power from NDC to NPP and its transfer back to the NDC in 2009; he said had become enviable, with many African states striving to replicate in their democratic experiment.

He said despite the gains, the economic fortunes of the country took a nose-dive in the revolutionary days that compelled the government to seek the support of the IMF and other Bretton woods institutions which was again replicated by other African countries.

According to president Mahama, the status of Ghana and other African countries as mass producers of raw materials stems from the colonial legacy of most of the African states indicating that his government is working to reverse the trend. "That is why this time around, we are pursuing measures to become processors of finished goods especially in the areas of cocoa, gold and timber.

He said it was unfortunate that Ghana imported all kinds of goods including tomatoes, crude and cooking oil, chicken, timber and cocoa products despite the state having the prospects to produce for both domestic consumption and for export.