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13-Year-Old JHS Student visits Pres Akufo-Addo, calls for National Students’ Day to build volunteerism
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Monday May 27, 2024, met and had an exciting interaction with budding teenager and Head Boy of Franphil International School, Master Papa Appeakorang Duodu-Kumi III, at the Jubilee House in Accra.
The rare, yet fascinating visit comes after the thirteen-year-old teenager had written a fine-looking yet insightful letter to the President, chronicling his early steps towards his ultimate ambition of becoming President of the country someday, as well as his fondness for President Akufo-Addo’s inspiring “Fellow Ghanaians” speeches at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The young JHS Two student has advocated for a National Students’ Day dedicated to students to do voluntary work in their schools and endeavour to instill same in them, as well as the establishment of more Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) schools across the country.
Taking lessons from the EU’s recent enactment of the Artificial Intelligence Act that applies a risk-based approach to ensure that different applications of the technology are treated differently depending on the perceived threats they pose to society so that based on their risk levels, not all applications are acceptable, he asked for the promulgation of an Artificial Intelligence policy to regulate that burgeoning, yet unfettered space in Ghana.
He also called on the Minister for Education to embark on working visits to rural communities, saying these visits will motivate the teachers and students alike and for the President to visit the needy and deprived families, interact with them and learn firsthand their needs and aspirations.
The very interactive visit also saw young Master Duodu-Kumi III seeking autographs on two photographs; one bearing the six leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) popularly known as the Big Six, and referencing the familial relations of three of them to the President, and another one of a young six-year old Akufo-Addo at the wedding of Dr JB Danquah, he sought to know which one of the three inspired the President on his decision to push to be President
He also wanted to know what the President’s most challenging and most difficult decision has been since his election and sought the President’s perspective on the leadership capabilities of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
President Akufo-Addo, in his responses, pledged to continue touching base with people of rural communities as he has done on his regional tours since 2017, when he became President, and directed the Ghana Education Service to engage relevant stakeholders on the National Students’ Day proposition.
The President also mentioned the introduction of the Free Senior High School Policy as the most challenging and most difficult decision due primarily to the period of implementation when Ghana was going through an IMF austerity procedure that triggered concerns by several members of his cabinet against the costly implementation of the policy.
He said, in the face of all these, he had to go ahead to implement Free SHS because he believed, then and now, that human resource remains the most important natural resource for Africa and that Ghanaians were looking forward to the fulfilment of the key campaign promise.
On his views on Nkrumah, he lauded the first President’s efforts in the independence struggle and the attainment of it, which positively sparked a wave of self-determination movements across Africa. He, however, disliked Nkrumah’s autocratic disposition and intolerance for dissenting voices, that led to the introduction of the Preventive Detention Act, based on which a lot of people were jailed because they didn’t agree with some of his decisions.
He continued that Dr J B Danquah, who was indeed one of the three members of his family in the Big Six, has always been his unbridled inspiration in his long walk to the Jubilee House and disclosed that, the other two, his father, Edward Akufo-Addo and his uncle, William Ofori-Atta, were themselves also similarly inspired by Dr JB Danquah’s political trajectory and impressive depths of knowledge.
Master Papa Appeakorang Duodu-Kumi III was accompanied by the principal of the school, Phil Opoku Boateng, Francis Boateng, William Addo Brown, an uncle and Kwaku Duodu-Kumi, his father.
Ghana Tourism Authority is leading Ghana’s participation at ITB Berlin, which opened in Berlin with a vibrant national pavilion highlighting Ghana’s rich cultural heritage, tourism destinations and investment opportunities.
March 5 has been designated as Ghana Day, a special platform to promote Ghana’s languages, cuisine, Kente, festivals and business prospects to the global tourism community. The stand has already drawn strong interest with traditional arts and crafts displays, immersive multimedia presentations and popular Ghanaian snacks.
Seven private-sector players are exhibiting alongside government officials as part of efforts to deepen trade partnerships, expand market access, and attract investment across the hospitality, heritage tourism, ecotourism, and creative arts sectors.
Ahead of the official opening, the Ghana delegation also engaged young Ghanaian investors in Germany in collaboration with V Afrika-Verein and the Ghana Embassy, strengthening diaspora investment linkages and highlighting opportunities within the tourism value chain.
Ghana’s coordinated presence at ITB Berlin 2026 reinforces its strategy to position the country as the Gateway to Africa and a competitive destination for leisure travel and global investment.
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
