Ghana celebrates its fiftieth independence anniversary today. Eighteen heads of states and government are reportedly in the country to participate in the celebration. They are expected to converge this morning at the Independence Square in Accra to witness the climax of the anniversary - a super parade featuring the security services and school children. In 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan country to free itself from colonial rule, with Kwame Nkrumah as the founding president.
Oboshie Sai-Kofi is the deputy minister for information. She says all is set for today’s celebration.
“It’s a very exciting atmosphere in the whole country right now. The streets are agog with Ghanaians ready to celebrate this independence anniversary to the biggest. They’ve all got their colors on, the red gold and green is everywhere…there is a spirit of anticipation and euphoria, which is almost tangible,” she said.
Sai-Kofi said Ghanaians have been reflective about the country’s achievement and the way forward.
“The lead up to the celebration has been a lot of talk about reflection and about charting our path forward. So I believe that has been our focal point up till now, but today, which is the actual day, it’s a party. And people are just glad that the country has held together for fifty years and that it’s a united Ghana and we are just happy to be having a bit of a birthday,” Sai-Kofi noted.
She said Ghana has always been respected among African countries.
“Ghana has been hailed as the trailblazer in West Africa and among the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States). I think we’ve been able to showcase some of our progress like the adherence to the rule of law, adherence to the democratic principles over the last several years; we’ve gone through a successful constitutional rule,” Sai-Kofi said.
She said Ghanaians should be proud of the country’s achievement over the last fifty years.
“Although it’s a nascent democracy, I think it’s working. And we are learning fast and I think those are lessons that other countries can learn from. But we are proud to be Ghanaians. When you look around on the continent there are problem areas all around us. We have been blessed to be able to hold together as a nation,” she said.
Sai-Kofi said various reforms have been put in place to benefit children yet unborn.
“We’ve put in the kind of reforms we feel will help our children and our children’s children in the form of educational reform, the health sector reforms. And I think we would be pleased in the coming years,” she said.
Sai-Kofi explains Ghana’s fiftieth anniversary message.
“The message is that we as Ghanaians feel like we’ve come a long way on this fiftieth golden jubilee. We are proud to be Ghanaians…we want to give our quota to helping to bring peace to the continent. And we are prepared to work hand in hand with our neighbors to move forward,” she said.