Akufo-Addo launches campaign for more libraries

In efforts to encourage public learning resources, President Akufo-Addo has launched a campaign to build more libraries.

The President said libraries were essential prerequisites to meeting the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal four (SDG 4).

“It is unfortunate that after 71 years of the existence of the public library service in Ghana, most Ghanaians still do not have access to this important community anchor institution (libraries) whose role in the growth and development of our society is extremely positive,” he said at the commissioning of a public library at Frafraha named after his late father, Edward Akufo-Addo.

To remedy the situation, the President noted that over the last five years, his government has redefined the mandate of the Ghana Library Authority and charged it to be responsive to the growing needs of the Ghanaian population.”

“I want to encourage all Ghanaians to support the expansion of library services for the benefit of all. We cannot achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 4, which requires that we promote quality education for all by relegating the development of libraries to the background,” he said.

On the expansion drive so far, the President noted that he is “impressed”, as all Ghanaians should be, “with the expansion of library network through various strategic partnerships”, such as “the introduction of the digital library, the provision of access through mobile phones, the increase of books on the shelves of libraries across the country.”

The President further mentioned, “the renovations carried out on dilapidated libraries, the availability of internet and computers, the reintroduction of mobile library services, as well as the design of many other innovative solutions and programmes, as other steps taken which are geared towards making Ghana a truly reading and learning nation”.

 

Private contributions

In his address, the President identified three individuals who have made contributions to the expansion of libraries in the country.

First, the President named the First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo, whom he says has “through the Rebecca Foundation, built and handed over 10 library facilities to the Ghana Library Authority with six more in the pipeline.”

“I must commend, too, the Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, the Member of Parliament for Awutu Constituency, Alexander Afenyo Markin, who has constructed, furnished, and handed over 13 library facilities to the Ghana Library Authority; as I must, the Director of Communications at the Presidency, in Eugene Arhin, who also recently, handed over a fully furnished library at Awutu Breku, to the Ghana Library Authority,” President Akufo-Addo noted.

Naming of library

On naming the library after his late father, President Akufo-Addo noted that he nor his family did not play any role in the decision to name the facility after his father.

He was quick to add that it was solely the decision of the governing board of the Ghana Library Authority, for which he and his two siblings are thankful.

“I thank the Chairperson, members of the governing board, and management of the Ghana Authority for recognizing the contribution of my late father, the President of the Second Republic and the third Ghanaian Chief Justice of our history, to the development of public services library in Ghana and for naming this library after him,” President Akufo-Addo said.

 

“Before my political opponents predictably accuse me of seeking the unwarranted glorification of my father, it must be put on record that this decision was taken solely by the governing board without any input or knowledge by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.”

According to the President, “The decision was taken according to this understanding and information because my father was the first Ghanaian to chair the board of the Ghana Library Authority, an institution that had been in existence in colonial times since 1950.”

The library

The library, stocked with over 30,000 books, is named after Edward Akufo-Addo, the father of the current President of Ghana. Edward Akufo-Addo is part of the ‘Big Six’, one of the stalwarts of Ghana’s independence struggle.

He was the Chief Justice of Ghana under the National Liberation Movement (1966 – 1970) and later became the ceremonial President under the Busia Progress Party government.