By Iddi
Yire, GNA
Accra, Sept 13, GNA – Mr Ransford Tetteh, the
Acting Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) on
Thursday urged Ghanaians to emulate the humility of the late former United
Nations Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan.
He said the globally renowned peace icon
served humanity with all humility, which must be emulated by all and sundry.
Mr Tetteh made these remarks in an interview
with the Ghana News Agency on the side line of the State Funeral of the late Mr
Annan in Accra.
The Acting General Manager noted that, the
demise of Mr Annan was a great loss to both Ghana and the International
Community.
He said there was the need for all Ghanaians
to learn lessons from the late Mr Annan’s humility to be able to serve all
human.
“We should be able to serve humanity, so that
we can also leave a legacy when our maker calls us,” Mr Tetteh stated.
Mr Annan passed away on August 18, in the
Swiss city of Bern after a brief illness.
He and the UN were the co-recipients of the
2001 Nobel Peace Prize.
Born in Kumasi, he joined the UN in 1962,
working for the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Office in Geneva.
He then went to serve in various capacities at
the UN Headquarters, including; serving as Under Secretary-General for
peacekeeping from March 1992 to December 1996.
He was appointed the UN Chief in December 1996
by the Security Council and later confirmed by the General Assembly, becoming
the first office holder to be elected from the UN staff itself.
Mr Annan was re-elected for a second term in
2001 and was succeeded by South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon on January 01, 2007.
As Secretary-General, he worked to reform the
UN bureaucracy, combated the deadly HIV spread, especially in Africa and
launched the UN Global Compact.
He also initiated the Millennium Development
Goals towards improving the lots of the poor around the world.
After serving out his term, he formed the Kofi
Annan Foundation in 2007 to work on international development, peace and
humanitarianism and was also the Chairman of “The Elders”, an international
organisation founded by Nelson Mandela.
In 2012, Mr Annan became the UN-Arab League
Joint Special Representative for Syria, to aid efforts at resolving the bloody
conflict there, but quit over his frustration with the lack of progress with
regard to conflict resolution.
He was appointed to lead a UN Commission to
investigate the Rohingya crisis in September 2016.
Mr Annan studied Economics at Macalester
College, International Relations from the Graduate Institute Geneva and
Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He is survived by his wife Nane Marie
Lagergren and their Children, Ama, Kojo and Nina.
GNA