VIDEO: Akufo-Addo, 16 African leaders speak at US Summit for Democracy

Akufo-Addo speaks at Summit for Democracy

He spoke highly of Ghana’s COVID response

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was one of seventeen African leaders who joined the inaugural Democracy Summit organized by the Joe Biden administration.

The summit held virtually, took place from December 9 – 10, 2021, as the Biden administration brought together leaders from government, civil society and the private sector to discuss issues of common interest.

The State Department on its website noted that the summit was part of, “shared effort to set forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective action.”

In his comments when he took his turn on December 9, 2021, Akufo-Addo said: “Thank you very much for having me participate in this very important conversation.

“I think that the American government are to be commended for the initiative of bringing together this summit and bringing together people from all different aspects of the social spectrum to look at the challenges democracy is having in this first half of the 21st century,” he added.

The major issues he raised were as follows:

• Impact of COVID on democracy and democratic values
• How Ghana dealt with the outbreak – falling short of declaring a State of Emergency
• Preventive Measures – Closing all borders – land, air and sea
• Restriction of movement at a point – stressing how measures were explained regularly to the populace
• Getting the buy-in of the populace and securing their appreciation and support
• How no rights were curtailed during the heady days
• How Ghana arrived at the 4th Republic
• The united political class leveraging on consensus building
• Ghana’s mass testing and mass vaccination programmes
• Race for vaccine self-reliance because plus plans for National Vaccine Institute

Akufo-Addo spoke between 42:30 secs – 49:25 seconds

No North African country was invited with West and southern Africa accounting for twelve nations while the remaining four was shared three to one between East and Central Africa.

Most countries were represented by their democratically elected presidents.

The 17 African nations invited to the summit were:

1. Angola
2. Botswana
3. Cabo Verde
4. (The) Democratic Republic of Congo
5. Ghana
6. Kenya
7. Liberia
8. Malawi
9. Mauritius
10. Namibia
11. Niger
12. Nigeria
13. Sao Tome and Principe
14. Senegal
15. Seychelles
16. South Africa
17. Zambia