The President of Ghana meets the Ghanaian community in the U.K

President Attah Mills

President Attah Mills and his wife were in the U.K by special invitation by her Majesty the Queen , U.K Prime Minister on a 3 day visit. However, he managed to kill 40 birds( engagements) with just one stone (i.e .one plane ticket).

Yesterday, 5.5/09 was an historic day for most Ghanaians in the U.K . I went to work at about 6.45 am just because I wanted to leave early and devote my time and wait to hear our current President maiden speech .

I left work at 3pm and head to Marriott Hotel near Oxford Circus.

Some tickets were issued to the Ghanaian community but many people just turned up to see the new President and nobody was turned away as I observed.

Ghanaians in particular are noted to turning up very late at functions. However on this occasion we were all there waiting for our the President. It was certainly Ghana time but an new record of European time for Ghanaian.

However when we sensed I delayed I realised that the President might be engaged with the BBC radio interview he was having. My son also emailed the BBC site and got a slot. Unfortunately for my 17 yrs he was at college there missed the opportunity to being interviewed by the President on air.

Indeed the President's late minute slot of the BBC interview meant he had to delay in coming to us.

When President and his wife plus some his Cabinet arrived one could sense the the joy oozing from his people who he is serving.

The prayers said by a united Christian, Dr Lawrence Tetteh and the Moslem, Alhaji Muhammed Haydara. This made Ghana community and guest who attended to see the kind of diversity and be proud of it. Money can't buy the joy of loving each other regardless our religious believes, race or creed for it is the people that matter. At the point, I felt the Western world need to learn a thing or two from Ghana as an example to respecting each other religion and integrating both faith as a signal to the people that we are all one. This unity displayed yesterday to me was a sign of peace in Ghana which sadly many countries see each other as enemies.

The Ablade cultural troupe were also excellent and demonstrated the rich cultural heritage that Ghana has . However we do not market that richness well enough. .

The Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia from the High Commission did handle affairs on the day brilliantly well and paved the way for our new President's speech.

The President's address confirmed our expectations. The President did the pacesetting which is a leadership style based on the premise that the leader's manner of doing thing is the best.

His humility and welcoming spirit came across so well and the his audience saw him as a genuine person who wanted to listen and serve his people. Amassing wealth was not his priority at all.

Ghana is extremely grateful to God for helping the ordinary Ghana back home to choose our leader.

These are indeed Ghanaians from North, South, East and West. Therefore I would urge our new President to ensure that as he put it that there is inventory of state properties, and cars, accountability of projects. Contracts should only be awarded to the bidder who meet criteria not those who knows someone in Government as this has been the norm.

Ghana needs a uniformity of education in all our regions, and local chiefs should be part of the strategic decision making not just Cabinet Ministers who many a time do not know the local needs nor the geography of some areas.

Mrs Wilhelmina Asamoah also finished off votes of thanks.

No longer would Ghanaians be bullied by any sitting President when the ordinary Ghanaian know precisely what is needed for their local communities.

There was not time for any questions and answers however, I would encourage our High Commissions in the various countries to be have an open policy so that Ghanaians who have the knowledge and know-how in certain areas would be welcome. Thus, they would share their skills and knowledge on a voluntary or paid working holiday back home. We need to have a skills audit of Ghanaian abroad from every country and tap into this pool before outsourcing contracts and consultancy jobs.

Ghana has what it takes to build a nation and with such a President who listen and know his mission as a leader would make the Ghanaian dream of a better home a reality.

All the NDC and various parties members were also present and make the occasion a successful one. Ghanaian let's use the opportunity unity to share our knowledge with each other and build a better Ghana as one building needing all us as its materials( human capital) for that transformation.