The Chief Justice, (CJ), Justice Kwesi Anin Yeboah, has mentored the youth and advised them to remain focused to fulfil their God given potentials in order to hold the key to the development of the nation.
According to the CJ, the kind of efforts they make towards the development of the country will determine the speed of her transformation, saying “your efforts are what will make this country.”
Addressing participants at the annual Chief Justice’s Mentoring Programme, attended by students from junior high and senior high schools to inspire them to pick up the study of law, the CJ said, a nation’s greatness is measured by its people.
The event which was on the theme, ‘I Pledge Myself to the Service of Ghana’, was to expose the students to the functions of the judiciary, interact with the members of the bench and to imbibe them to the virtues and patriotism of the nation.
Chief Justice Anin Yeboah said the developed world is what it is today because of the contributions of its youth and adults alike, and that, his annual mentorship programme “is designed to inspire young people to take up service to the nation, whether in the Judiciary or in other equally noble endeavours” for purposes of building the nation to the status of those that “we collectively admire, especially, the western world.”
*Service to Ghana*
The CJ said, “It is impossible to overstate the need to devote oneself to the service of our country. Often, it is thought that service to our motherland can only be delivered from some particular positions. The truth, however, is far from this. A nation’s greatness is collected as a sum of the individual efforts of its citizens, wherever and however they may apply themselves.
“A nation cannot be great if only its public servants are great. A nation is not truly great until all of its citizens are bound by a sense of duty to the collective good. So, what I want to say to you young people here and the millions out there who cannot be here today is that your efforts are what will make this country, like those ones beyond the seas that I am sure you admire” Chief Justice Anin Yeboah said.
“It took the efforts of people like you, some only a few years older than some of you here today, to produce those inventions, those ideas and those projects that have made some countries answer to the description of “developed”. The task I set for you, is to also see yourself as capable of doing the same for Ghana.
To do this, he said, “will require not only competence at your tasks, but integrity, patriotism and belief in yourselves and your nation.
“Those are the values that will differentiate you from others and set you and our nation on the path to greatness” the Chief Justice added.
*I didn’t know fate will allow me become First Lady*
The First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, in a speech read on her behalf by Barbara Oteng Gyasi, the chairperson of the board of directors of the Minerals Commission, as the guest of honour, urged the participants to remain committed to their dreams and aspire for excellence.
This, the First Lady said, is because for Ghana to survive, all her citizens, both young and old, must be at their very best.
“As leaders of tomorrow, Ghana fate in this uncertain world, rest squarely upon your shoulders along with the millions of your colleagues sitting in classrooms around the country.
“Do not be discouraged by these challenges (Ghana’s challenges), instead, envision a future in which you take on and defeat these challenges. Be excited about the future when you will have the opportunity to manage this country even better than any of us who have come before you” Barbara Oteng Gyasi stated on behalf of the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo.
*UNFPA Rep*
The Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Barnaba Yisa, in her remarks read on his behalf indicated that UNFPA is delighted to have been associated with the “Chief Justice Mentoring Programme” the last five years.
Ms.Yisa, noted that the UNFPA, “will continue to facilitate this innovative approach which reaches out to poor and vulnerable people, particularly, girls out of school who otherwise, could not have been privileged to be part of the Chief Justice Mentoring Programme.”
*Facilitators*
Justice Eric Kyei Baffour and Justice Georgina Mensah Datsa, both Justices of the Court of Appeal, Ms. Kathleen Addy, Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Yaw Oppong, Director of the Ghana School of Law and Yaw Acheampong Boafo, President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), as part of the event, took turns to address the participating students.
They one after the other took turns to narrate their personal life challenges and what they had to endure when they were growing up in their bid to climb up the academic ladder.
The participants were urged not to give attention to the present difficulties they may have but to keep their eyes on the bigger picture and on the price.
*Participating Schools*
In all 10 schoos participated in the exercise. They comprised of five each from the Junior high and senior high schools attended this year’s programme. The Senior High Schools are Adjen Kotoku Senior High School, Kwabenya Senior High School, Frafraha Senior High School, Amasaman Senior High School and Al-Basar Senior High School.
Whilst, the junior high schools had Morning Star School, EP Church Junior High School, Achimota Junior High School, Martyrs of Uganda Junior High School and the School for the Blind, Akropong. Other participants were the United Nations Population Fund, orange girls.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com/Murtala Inusah
