An Honour To The Nation

It is no accident that at definite points in history, Ghana has always produced leaders who have not only stood up to the challenges confronting the people but also by dint of their vision, performance and dedication to the cause of the masses have been globally acclaimed and acknowledged.

Ghana it was which produced the legendary Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah who, armed with a far-sighted and progressive vision, led the anti-colonial struggle that broke the back of imperialism and its stranglehold on the African continent.

Ghana’s stature as the first black African country south of the Sahara to attain independence on March 6, 1957 under the leadership of the Osagyefo was, therefore, no fluke.

Having blazed the trail of emancipation of the continent, Ghana has also produced leaders who have also made significant contributions not only to its political, economic and social development but also the advancement of Africa and mankind as a whole.

These include former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor.

And only a few days ago President John Evans Atta Mills brought more honour to the nation by chalking up important honours both in Canada and the United States of America.

The Institute of International Education (IIE) has given due honour and respect to President Mills as the first ever Fulbright scholar to rise to the highest office of President of any nation on earth.

The President of the institute, Dr Allan E. Goodman, disclosed this when he met the President in New York days ago.

Without doubt, the importance and value of such an honour goes beyond the respectability and dignity it confers on the individual leaders to encompass the nation and by extension the African continent.

For a continent and people who have been victims of the most negative and denigrating stereotyping mankind has ever known and whose global publicity has largely rested on negative issues and events, these sparse but positive stories go to paint a positive image of our great and rich continent and its people.

Additionally, such positive news also paint the unmistakable picture of the fact that given equal and fair opportunity, the African has the capacity and the competence to excel in any sphere of human endeavour as any other person of any race or continent on the face of this planet.

Without doubt, the IIE has, in its many decades of academic excellence and scholarship, seen thousands of scholars from every nook and cranny of every continent come and go, and yet it had to take a Ghanaian, an African, to chalk up this historic feat.

While this by itself may not provide us with a fait accompli, it nevertheless opens to us opportunities for further marketing of Ghana and Africa to the rest of the world on a brighter and more positive note.

While congratulating President Mills on this honour he has brought to our country, we urge him not to rest on his laurels but continue to give of his best to ensure that the better Ghana agenda he has set in motion is carried out to its logical conclusion, so that Ghanaians and all who live here, irrespective of their ethnic, racial, religious, social, political and other sectarian backgrounds live this progressive ideal.