<\/p>\n
President Nana Akufo-Addo exchanging pleasantries with an official of the Museum of the Bible in Washington<\/strong><\/p>\n President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been sharing amazing real life stories far away in the United States of America (USA), asserting that his strong faith in God has shaped his professional life as a lawyer and politician.<\/p>\n He said this has heavily influenced his vision for Ghana and Africa\u2019s transformation, and noted that he is a Christian in politics, who is unashamed of asserting his Christian faith as part of his political calling.<\/p>\n Speaking at the inaugural Africa lecture organised by the Museum of the Bible in Washington, USA, President Akufo-Addo stated, \u201cIt is this faith, and this belief in God\u2019s power to transform difficult situations into beacons of hope, that has animated my vision for moving Ghana to a situation beyond aid, and putting the country onto the road of self-reliance, sustained progress and prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that \u201cthis faith is also the motivation for one of the major projects, which I have described as a priority of priorities, which we are undertaking in the country, the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe National Cathedral and Bible Museum of Africa are, thus, being developed as Ghana\u2019s gifts to the Christian community worldwide. That is a \u2018safe space\u2019 to organise key National, Regional, and Global Christian activities,\u201d President Akufo-Addo disclosed.<\/p>\n Legal Playground<\/strong><\/p>\n According to him, there are times someone\u2019s experience and intellectual rigour would not get him or her prepared for the vicissitudes of the legal playground, and that \u201con such occasions, it helps to be able to hark back to your faith and maybe the sound of your mother singing that ancient hymn.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho is on the Lord\u2019s side? It helps to be on the Lord\u2019s side, when you purport to seek or arbitrate for justice among humans,\u201d he sang the hymn.<\/p>\n He disclosed that the critical part of his Christian upbringing was that Christianity was a way of life and that an everyday experience meant far more than going to church, adding that it was obligatory in the \u201cOfori-Atta and Akufo-Addo homes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy own parents, as you can imagine, were staunch Presbyterians. I was baptised a Presbyterian, and became an Anglican, much to the vehement protests of my parents, as a result of the secondary school I attended in England.<\/p>\n \u201cLet us say I became enamored with the rituals, daily Matins and Evensong, and the additional Sunday Eucharist, which were constant features of my four-year stay at school in Lancing,\u201d he recalled with nostalgia.<\/p>\n \u201cOften in law practice, things are not quite as cut and dried as they would seem or as one would wish. There would be times when no amount of experience or intellectual rigour would prepare you for the vicissitudes of the legal playground. On such occasions, it helps to be able to hark back to your faith and maybe the sound of your mother singing that ancient hymn,\u201d the President stressed.<\/p>\n Citing sections of Sir Walter Beasant\u2019s legal novel titled: \u201cThe Ivory Gate\u201d, President Akufo-Addo said he agreed with the author\u2019s quote that \u201cthe solicitor knows more than a Roman Catholic priest and carries greater responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n He argued that this certainly helps a lawyer to be a Christian and also have an anchor that steadies the individual to manoeuvre the turbulence of the everyday life of legal practice.<\/p>\n Political Trajectory <\/strong><\/p>\n For his political trajectory, the President shared his life experience, saying, \u201cThe story of my struggles to become president of my country is well known. My experiences have been a testimony of God\u2019s love, and a vindication of the words of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to St. Matthew 19:26, which says \u2018With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible\u2019. It took three tries between 2008 and 2016 for me to get elected. By which time, the popular catch phrases of \u2018Akufo-Addo cannot be President; God does not want Akufo-Addo to be President; Akufo-Addo is short, and does not have the stature to be President\u2019 had become so prevalent. You have to be firmly rooted in your faith to have had the courage to persist,\u201d he pinned.<\/p>\n President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that he committed that third election campaign to God, and indicated to the Ghanaians \u201cthe Battle is the Lord\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy God\u2019s grace, I won a famous victory against an incumbent President by a gap of nearly a million votes, the largest margin of victory for two decades. And, by the same Grace, I won re-election in the December 2020 elections, and I am now in my second and last term as President,\u201d he narrated.<\/p>\n By Ernest Kofi Adu<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Nana Akufo-Addo exchanging pleasantries with an official of the Museum of the Bible in Washington President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been sharing amazing real life stories far away in the United States of America (USA), asserting that his strong faith in God has shaped his professional life as a lawyer and politician. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1078195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[648,6688,540,7614,1167],"class_list":["post-1078193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-akufoaddo","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-ive","tag-strong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}