ONMA Holds Maiden Independence Day Celebration

The Okaikwei North Municipal Assembly (ONMA) in the Greater Accra Region on Friday joined their counterparts in other parts of the country to mark Ghana’s 63rd Independence Day celebration.

The Day saw over twenty private and government schools in the Municipality participating in the first ever national event since the establishment of the Municipality in 2017.

Anchored on the theme: “Consolidating Our Gains”, the event brought together people from all walks of life among others chiefs, queen mothers, politicians, the clergy and the academia.

The Municipal Chief Executive, Boye Laryea in a message read on behalf of the president, Nana Akufo-Addo said the country has had difficulties and stumbled in its search to reach its potential and that Ghana has never lost her position as an inspirational leading light on the African continent.

The president said at 63, we have squandered many opportunities that, properly utilized, would have brought us to the economic breakthrough to which we aspire.

“We lament, and rightly so, the infrastructure deficits that plague all sectors of our lives, and the considerable number of our people who still live in poverty. But, if truth be told, we have solid reason to rejoice and be thankful to the Almighty, for this is a blessed nation” he said.

The president added: “It certainly must count for something that we have been able to keep out terrorist activities from our country, and we can take for granted the peace and stability that define Ghana”.

Nana Addo noted “Ghana’s politics might not always be the most edifying, but they are demanding and loud, and all citizens cherish the right to freedom of expression. We are into the twenty-eighth (28th) year of this Fourth Republic, the longest, uninterrupted period of stable, constitutional governance in our history. We have had regular, hard fought elections and peaceful changes of administrations, and managed to avoid any third-term manoeuvres. That is something for which we should applaud ourselves.”

He stated that no child has died from measles in the past seventeen (17) years in Ghana and that no longer do mothers have to sell off their most treasured fabrics and jewellery, and fathers go to money lenders, to be able to see their children through senior high school.

“Today, senior high school education is free for every child. There are more children in secondary school now, especially young girls, than we have ever had. We are changing the curricula and focus in education to meet the needs of the modern economy, and prepare our young people to compete on the global scale.”

Children’s Message

Naomi Issahaku a form three student of the Tesano Junior High School in a message delivered on behalf of Ghanaian children to the president thanked him for what they described as the “excellent delivery of his government in fulfilling almost all the promises he made” including “free SHS, expanded school feeding Plating For Food And Jobs and NABCO.”

While urging Nana Addo to do more to create job opportunities to curb unemployment among the youth further noted that the children of Ghana appreciate government’s efforts to reduce armed robbery and the degradation of the environment through galamsay.

Mrs. Cynthia Aboni, the Municipal Director of Education commended former governments for Acts like Act 87 of 1961 which made basic education compulsory.

On the December 7, 2020 general elections, Ms. Issahaku said “we appeal to the government to facilitate free, fair and transparent election this year and pray for peace before, during and after the elections to avoid conflict of which we are the most vulnerable. Also security should be strengthened to arrest any form of misconduct, eliminate corruption, encourage production and purchase of made in Ghana goods, protect our national resources and also manage filth in our communities.”

Schools present at the event among others were Harrow international school, Achimota Basic School, Accra Girls Vocational School, Saint Thomas Preparatory School, Nii Boi Town SDA and Abeka 2 Primary School.