State honours heroes
President John Evans Atta Mills on Friday conferred State Honours on a number of persons and groups for their distinguished services to the nation.
In the course of their services, some paid the supreme price with their lives and were therefore given posthumous awards for laying their lives down for fellow Ghanaians and humanity.
“A nation that does not honour its heroes is not worth dying for”, President Mills said as he conferred the awards at a state investiture ceremony in Accra.
He expressed the nation’s appreciation for the gallantry of the heroes and their distinguished services, challenging the youth to be more interested in what they could contribute to national development than what the nation could do for them.
The President urged the youth to emulate the good examples of those who distinguished themselves in national service.
“This ceremony is a very important one, because it is intended to send positive signals to especially the young people. It is not for them to ask what their nation can do for them, but what they can do for their nation”, President Mills said.
He urged Ghanaians to continue to throw their weight behind Government towards building a better society and the improvement of lives.
President Mills said the awardees had contributed in various ways to Ghana’s development, and commended them for their dedicated and distinguished services.
The awardees came from academia, politics, trade, commerce and industy, as well as sports and religion among other sectors. “I am particularly happy that, especially at this important time in our history, we are able to showcase people whose examples and whose contributions have propelled our country forward and are therefore sources of inspiration to all of us.”
President Mills said there was a lot of objectivity and transparency in the awards selection process and acknowledged many Ghanaian unsung heroes who had also contributed immensely on the quiet to the development of the nation. A lot more people needed to be recognised and their time would soon come, President Mills said.
Their paths, he said, had not been easy, but their tenacity and determination had made them go through.
Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, Speaker of Parliament, and the Black Stars Group of 2010 were among the seven recipients of the Companion of the Order of the Volta, the highest of the awards.
Mrs Bamford-Addo thanked the President, the Government and people of Ghana for graciuosly recoginsing their small contributions and rewarding them in splendour.
She said, “Our hearts and those of our families are gladdened, but humbled by the honour bestowed on us. Little did we know that our modest contributions will be recognised”, Mrs Bamford-Addo said, adding that “This serves as a good lesson for all Ghanaians, especially the younger generation, not to judge the harvest they reap each day, but rather the seeds they sowed.”
Mrs Bamford-Addo noted that it behoved on all to uphold the selfless spirit of Ghana’s forebears for a better Ghana, and said the recipients of the national awards would dedicate the remaining years of their lives to the national cause to ensure a Better Ghana for all.
Among the awardees were Elder Statesman Harry Sawyerr, Professor Nana Agyewodin Adu Gyamfi Ampem, Mr Jeremiah Mama, the first Ghanaian Archivist, Sergeant Baiden Ebenezer Morgan, Divisional Officer Kwame Seddoh, Sub-Officer Issac Newto Adjei, and the late Group Officer Hannah Yawson who was awarded posthumously.
Source: GNA