President John Dramani Mahama says he is confident that Ghana’s latest batch of ambassadors and high commissioners will be among the most trained and well-prepared envoys the country has ever dispatched.
Speaking at the Conference of Heads of Mission and Envoys’ Orientation organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra on Monday, September 1, 2025, the President praised the program which will equip envoys with relevant skills and knowledge.
Delivering his speech, President Mahama expressed, “You the envoys we are dispatching and the seven envoys who have joined us are going to be among the most prepared envoys we’ve ever dispatched in the history of Ghana”
He says he had been looking through the course topics, which detailed subjects the envoys would study and the people who would deliver the lectures.
“The resource persons are among the best minds we have in this country and the topics are very well chosen,” President Mahama stated.
Mahama further agreed with a comment by The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who said the reset agenda must be accompanied by a reset of our minds.
Drawing lessons from Japan and Singapore, President Mahama stressed that value systems are key to development
He said Japan was destroyed in the world war but has since become one of the first-class countries in the world, and Singapore gained independence 8 years after Ghana but has gone from 3rd world to 1st world.
“One of the things I noticed is the discipline of their people, their attitudes and most of all their value system. They have become modern first world countries without losing their values,” he said.
Adding, “They incorporate these values in the children as young as ever and so they grow with those values.”
President Mahama pointed to a decline in values in Africa which is normally tied to modernization, saying, “Unfortunately, in most of Africa we think that modernization is adopting values of other people.”
He further went on to explain why he believes this batch will be among the most trained, as topics like etiquette are included on the curriculum.
“I remember when we were growing up, we were taught responsible citizenship and courtesy. I know I shouldn’t go and sit at a table and be eating and belching. I noticed that for ambassadors, there is etiquette here.”
“That is why I say you’re going to be among the most prepared people,” Mahama added.
