President apologises

President Kufuor greeting the gathering on Independence Day in Accra which also marked Ghana's 50 years of freedom from Great Britain

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday December 28, 2007
PRESIDENT J. A. Kufuor has rendered an unqualified apology for “any wrongful acts of omission or commission” during his tenure as the President.

“I must have made mistakes, but I can assure you that none is deliberate,” he said.

President Kufuor made the apology when he addressed delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) last Saturday at the University of Ghana, Legon, where they had converged to elect a flagbearer for the party.

After months of intense and spirited campaigning which saw a record 17 aspirants bidding to lead the NPP, it was Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, former Foreign Minister, who was elected flagbearer of the NPP with 1,096 votes.

President Kufuor said “I have come to the beginning of the end of my tenure and today’s process brings back memories of great feelings”.

“I made my candidature in 1992 when Professor Emeritus Adu Boahen won. In 1996 and 1998, I was lucky to be elected and I enjoyed total support of all the other contestants”.

President Kufuor said the nation is increasingly witnessing internal democracy in all the political parties, adding, “the NPP should be commended for blazing the trail in this direction.”

He commended the developing partners for helping Ghana to consolidate her democracy and also lauded all the 17 aspirants, saying, “your campaigning has rejuvenated party activities especially at the grassroots”.

He said “we have come here in 17 groups and we must leave here as a single entity under one leader”.

President Kufuor urged NPP supporters to serve as ambassadors by “telling the success story of the government”.

Touching on the country’s level of development, the President said the government has secured a 90 million dollar loan to restore the Eastern and Central rail lines which will commence operations early next year.

He said the West Africa Gas Pipeline has now been completed and it was in operation and also hinted that the discovery of oil in the Western Region was expected to yield about three billion barrels.

The President said there was a near collapse of the economy before the NPP government took over in 2001 but despite instability in the oil market, his administration was able to manage the economy well.

Touching on transparency, President Kufuor said “we were the first country to submit ourselves for the African Peer Review Mechanism. We are very open.”