President Akufo-Addo has been presented with an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Sorbonne, in Paris, France.
The award was conferred on President Akufo-Addo in recognition of his commitment to entrenching the values of democracy in Ghana, fostering peace within the West African Region, guaranteeing access to a minimum of senior high school education for all of Ghana’s children through the implementation of the Free SHS policy, among others.
In his acceptance speech, President Akufo-Addo addressed issues on climate change, equity and justice, reform of the multilateral system and the importance of strengthening international co-operation amongst nations.
On climate change, President Akufo-Addo recounted events at the just ended Summit for financing Africa’s adaptation to climate change in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. He revealed that Africa contributes only 4% to the global production of greenhouse gas emissions, but it is the region of the world where the consequences of these are felt most heavily.
He explained that the Adaptation Summit’s mission, ahead of the Conference of the Parties in Egypt, was to mobilize twenty-five billion dollars by 2025 to mitigate the consequences of climate change in terms of food security, resilient infrastructure, creation of suitable jobs and green finance.
“It is on the African continent that the future of the world will largely be played, in any case the future of Europe and that of France; these are not words. These are facts. And, as you say in French, facts are stubborn. Twenty-five billion in three years, for adaptation to climate change for the whole of Africa. This is about five times the annual cost of medical transport in France. That is a lot, of course. But that is derisory.”
President Akufo-Addo
Contribution of the world to fight climate change in Africa
President Akufo-Addo stated that Africa left Rotterdam with pledges of $55 million, outside of the pledge of the African Development Bank to mobilize $12.5 billion. He indicated that one would have hoped that the international community would have “shown greater solidarity” with the African continent, which is suffering the consequences of problems that she did not create. This, he explained, is not right and fair to Africa.
To this end, the President told the gathering that African leaders have a duty to build, together with their respective populations, fairer societies, where women, children and the most fragile, are treated appropriately.
“Societies where everyone, whatever their incomes, beliefs or ethnic origins, can have equitable and guaranteed access to the goods essential to the development of every individual and of society as a whole: access to water, food and quality care, access to energy, access to education, access, in short, to the decent life to which every free being can and must aspire.”
President Akufo-Addo
Commenting on his achievements, President Akufo-Addo revealed that Ghana implemented a policy of free public high schools during his first mandate. This, he stated, is a symbol for Ghanaians of the central place that education must hold in the development of societies and the training of enlightened citizens able to play their full role.
Calling for a reform of the multilateral system, which, he said, “is leaking from all sides”, President Akufo-Addo noted that the world of 2022 is not the world of 1945.
“The crisis of the multilateral financial institutions and the United Nations system, which were born from the rubble of the Second World War, is a deep crisis. It will continue until a fair system is put in place; a system that reflects the new balances, no longer based on who lost or won the Second World War, but on the major contemporary and future balances.”
President Akufo-Addo
