Hot!News

Pres returns home from 3-nation visit

 President John Dramani Mahama has returned home after what the government says was a “successful” three-nation working visit.

The President jetted out to Angola on Saturday, where he held bilateral discussions with his Angolan counterpart before par­ticipating in a high-level retreat on African Union (AU) Institutional Reforms in Nairo­bi, Kenya on Monday.

The President later travelled to Tanzania to participate in an energy summit organised by the World Bank, the African Develop­ment Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, and other organisations.

Briefing the media in Accra yesterday after the President’s arrival, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the Acting Spokesperson to the President, told the press that the trip was a fulfilling one in the interest of the country.

According to Mr Ofosu, the Abura-Ase­bu-Kwamankese Member of Parliament, the bilateral discussions in Angola revolved around ways that could be explored to deepen the already very healthy ties between Ghana and Angola, and to explore areas of mutual cooperation for the economic bene­fits of both nations.

He explained that in Kenya, Presi­dent Mahama underscored the need for deep-seated reforms in the way the African Union operated and carried out its mandate, so that the benefits of an Africanism and regional integration could be better felt by the hundreds of millions of people living on the African continent.

“It was a very fruitful event, and every in­dication is that following on from that meet­ing, more progress will be made in terms of the far-reaching reforms that need to be carried out in the African Union for the benefit of all,” Felix Kwakye Ofosu said.

The objective of the energy summit in Tanzania, the presidential spokesperson said, was to discuss ways of extending access to energy for underserved areas in Africa.

“And so the heads of states met following an earlier meeting by ministers of energy of various African countries to extend the agreement, to elaborate briefly on what their commitments to this objective were and what they had done in order to ensure its realisation,” he narrated.

President Mahama, Mr Ofosu said, re­counted Ghana’s experiences and shared the strategies that he in particular adopted to get Ghana out of the perennial energy prob­lems and took the opportunity to advise against some mistakes that had been made in the past.

The President, Mr Ofosu said, further reiterated Ghana’s commitment to ensur­ing that many more citizens got access to electricity.

“At the moment, Ghana has electricity access of about 83 per cent, which is one of the highest on the African continent. There were countries at the summit which disclosed that they had between anything from 12 per cent to 19 per cent access to electricity. So it shows that Ghana is streets ahead of many of these countries,” Mr Kwakye said.

The goal of the Mahama government, Felix Ofosu Kwakye said, was to ensure that many more citizens had access to electricity, and that “the benefits of having this access to power are good for rapid social and eco­nomic development”.

 BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI

Show More
Back to top button