Countrymen and women, loyalists and opponents,

I think I have been swindled. I think the Asantehene has been hoodwinked too. We both lent our support to a programme which turned out to be a scam. I am referring here to the Millennium Excellence Awards which was held in Accra last week. I ended my tour of the western region in good time to enable me attend the awards ceremony, expecting to grace an occasion which was meant to crown excellence and reward innovation. Alas, I was wrong.

Like many awards before it, the Millennium Excellence Awards turned out to be a shambolic, custom-made programme to reward the favourites of the organizers. Let me point out that I have no qualms whatsoever about people putting such award programmes together to reward and project excellence in our beloved Sikaman. I believe that for so long, we have failed to recognize our heroes. It is high time we changed our attitudes towards successful people in order to allow their light to shine on the path of the up-and-coming ones. It was for this reason that I felt it was necessary for me to grace the occasion of the Millennium Excellence Awards.