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Tema Excellence Awards honours John Agyekum Kufour

kencitymediagh
Jun 6, 2016
3 min read

Hon. Isaac Ashai Odamtten, Mayor of Tema, presenting the award to Mr. Frank Agyekum on behalf of former president John Agyekum Kufour.

Former President John Agyekum Kufour was on Saturday, June 4 2016, honoured at the 7th Tema Excellence Awards for contributing significantly to the development of Tema and Ghana at large during his term of office.

Mr. John Agyekum Kufour received a medal and a citation.

The citation read...“A perfect specimen of human made with a commanding deep voice that wafted the air and silenced all other voices. A towering figure whose presence epitomizes hope and society looks up to you in askance when you begin to speak. It is as if to say …”Let there be”. You brought land mark development that cuts across all facets of life….”

“When the image of Ghana was at its lowest ebb and development was almost crumbling to a halt, you took one of the most difficult decisions by declaring Ghana a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC). A decision which did not sit well with many. Painful though it was, it produced a myriad of reliefs and turned around our economy,” it added.

The award was in recognition of what the organizers described as President Kufuor’s sterling leadership style and good governance that lifted the image of Ghana unto the international pedestal.

Speaking to Oman FM in an interview, Chief Executive Officer of Tema Excellence Awards, Kwesi Poku Bosompem explained that former President Kufour was selected for the award because massive developments he brought for Tema metropolis during his term in office.

Kwesi Poku Bosompem, CEO of Tema Excellence Awards

Kwesi Poku, who justified the award to former President Kufour, said Mr. Kufour deserves the ward because he had been the only President after Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who did so much for Tema.

“Per the profile we were given, President Kufour did 43 social interventions for the people of Tema. TOR expansion projects, Gas expansion project, Asphaltic overlay from community 1 to Newtown road, Ashaiman overhead, TDC edifice, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), harbour expansion project so many things...”

“President Kufour has been the president who has added value to Tema more than any other president after Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,” he added.

Kwesi Poku Bosompem, who is also the Assembly member for Halcrow Electoral Area in Tema Community 2, used the occasion to call for attitudinal change among residents in Tema.

He expressed unhappiness about how Tema which happened to the most well planned city in Ghana is fast decaying due to poor attitude of residents.

“When there is rainfall you see people dumping refuse in the open drains. This is not the best and we need to change this attitude,” he advised.

Kwesi Poku was full of praise to God for seeing him through during the seven years of organizing the Tema Excellence Awards.

Mr. Frank Agyekum, spokesperson for former President John Agyekum Kufour who received the award on his behalf commended the organizers of Tema Excellence Awards for honouring the former President.

“President Kufour feels gratified because all his life and his public life …all he has done is to the upliftment of humanity. He made sure that all of us love the good things in life, and all that comes with it,” he said.

He explained that President Kufour introduced the National Health Insurance Scheme, Free School bus, the School Feeding Programme and other social interventions to better the lives of Ghanaians because of his love for humanity.

In all, seventeen organizations and individuals including the Director of Programmes at Accra based Oman FM, Dr. Moses Okine, Adom FM’s presenter Captain Smart and Chief Executive Officer of Zoomlion, a waste management company, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyapong were honoured for their various contributions to development of Tema.

Dr. Moses Okine, Programmes Director at Oman FM receiving his award