.... Mark Second Anniversary with Awards and Variety Night.*

The Ghanaian Community in Ireland came together at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Tyrellstown, Dublin on Saturday 7th November 2009 to celebrate the second anniversary of the Association of Ghanaian Professionals in Ireland (AGPI). It was the occasion used to recognise the contributions of individuals both Ghanaian and Irish towards the welfare, education and the development of Ghana. This year’s theme was: *Championing Ghana’s Development through the Promotion of Education, Entrepreneurship and Exemplary Leadership.*

The Special Guests for the celebration included Dr Ekow Spio Garbah, CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation in the UK, Ms Mairead Ni Naudhain, Commissioning Editor, Multicultural and Education of RTE Television, the Mayor of Fingal County, Councillor Ciaran Byrne, Mr Michael Mitchell, The Executive Director of St John of God Development Company in Dublin and his wife, Miss Nigeria (Ireland) Ms Emmanuella Salako and Miss Ghana (Ireland) Ms Jennifer Jenny.

Mr Emmanuel Asante, an elder of the Church of Pentecost in Edinburgh in Scotland called the house to order by rendering the all powerful opening prayer by committing the occasion unto the hands of God.

In his welcoming address, Dr Vincent Agyapong, Chairperson of AGPI, traced the origins of the association and outlined its aims and objectives. He admonished all Ghanaians to take more responsibility, not only for themselves and their families but for our communities and our country. He stressed that we cannot build our own future without helping others to build theirs and that by lifting the weakest or poorest among us, we lift the entire community.

Dr Agyapong continued that; ‘we live in a world, where what we earn is a function of what we learn, and so, if we want to invest in the prosperity of our community, we must invest in the education of our people, especially the youth, so that their talents may be fully realised.’

Dr Agyapong went further to remind Ghanaians that in 1969, when President J. F Kennedy conceived the idea of landing a man on the moon, it was the collective effort of various professionals including Astronauts, Engineers, Cleaners, Security Officers, Clergy Men, etc that made it possible for Neil Armstrong of the Apollo 11 fame to land eventually on the moon. He said “In AGPI, we recognise the diversity of the human potential. We have never asked all Ghanaians to strive to become doctors, architects, and engineers or certified charted accountants. What we have simply stressed time and again is for every Ghanaian to strive to achieve his or her full God give unadulterated potential whatever that potential is and to contribute positively to nation building.’

When the master for ceremonies for the day, Mr Michael Aziati an elder of the local Pentecost Church mounted the rostrum to introduce the guest speaker, Ghanaians knew it was no other person than Dr. Spio Ekow Garbrah.

The charismatic Spio as he is affectionately called thanked the AGPI for inviting him and was glad to attend because he had looked forward to this day.

He saluted the parents of the kids who had displayed the rich Ghanaian culture to the gathering and all those involved in the preparation.

Dr Spio Ekow Garbrah, thanked our host country for their contribution towards the well-being of the Ghanaian in this country .He said the efforts of Tullow Oil, a company with Irish roots in the discovery of oil in Ghana would be in vain unless efforts were made to make sure the gains from the oil would be better utilised to alleviate the poverty in our country. He continued by saying that a nation’s greatness is not measured by the natural resources it possesses but rather, the most important resource, which is the people of the country, that is the Ghanaian. He said learning to be the best in what we do is the surest way any country can transform the natural resources at our disposal to benefit everybody.

He decried the fact that Ghana had missed out on the industrial age, and hoped that we do not miss out on the Information Technology age as well. According to him we have access to information for the first time in the human history to develop. He said Ghana would have been among the first countries in the world to develop Nuclear power when our first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah built the Kwabenya Nuclear Power station but when he was overthrown, that ended the dream. He said Ghana should invest, encourage and embrace the advances in information technology so that we could solve most of our economic and social problems.

He said it is well and good if we decide to go back home and make a contribution towards our nation’s development but the danger is always that there would be challenges because the culture back home slows things down. Their way of doing things and attitude towards getting things done is markedly different from what obtains in the developed world so it would pose a lot of challenge if people decide to go back home individually to make a contribution. He said as professionals who would like to make a positive contribution, the surest way forward is networking, where professionals come together as a group and work together in partnerships with our associates in Ghana.

He said there are psychological barriers that would need to be crossed if we envisage going back home to make a positive contribution because those in the system in Ghana are afraid of change, they are comfortable with the status quo and are not prepared for positive change.

In concluding his speech, Dr Spio-Garbrah admonished Ghanaians to scrutinize politicians and ascertain if they are working for themselves or in the national interest. He also advised Ghanaians in Diaspora to send their children to Ghana at least for secondary education so that they would learn the Ghanaian culture and also develop links with Ghana.

There were solidarity messages from the Mayor of Fingal County, Councillor Ciaran Byrne and Ms Mairead Na Nuadhain.

Awards were presented to personalities who had excelled in the various categories, including:

Mr Peter Ankamah-Addo- Community Service Award Winner

Nana Ama Akoto- Youth Achievement Award Winner

Dorothy Adjei – Education Award Winner

Abdul Hussain- Enterprise Award Winner

Mr John Mitchell –Special Award Winner

Trophies were also presented to the winning counties of the Maiden AGPI National Youth Quiz Competition held in County Longford on the 22nd of November 2009.

There were cultural displays by the Letterkenny Cultural Troupe, the Lucan and Blanchardstown Cultural troupes and Gospel Music Provided by Mrs Boakye (UK) and Mrs Brobbey (Netherlands).

The curtain was brought down for the night when Pastor Ricky Sarpong of the New Life Ministry and founding member of the AGPI offered the closing prayer and thanked the LORD almighty for a successful second anniversary celebration.

Kofi Owusu-Ansah

AGPI-Secretariat