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Cape Coast, Central Region
As the nation marked the National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving on Tuesday, 1st July 2025, following a proclamation by the President of the Republic, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, the Central Region was not left out. The region hosted a well-organized event that drew thousands of people from all walks of life. Notable among the attendees were Christian clergy, Imams, traditional rulers, heads of government and private institutions, members of the diplomatic corps, and Ghanaian from the diaspora, many of whom were in town for both the National Prayer Day and the PANAFEST Festival.
The programme was spearheaded by the Central Regional Minister, Hon. Ekow Okyere Panyin Eduamoah, who, in his address, centered his message on the event’s theme – “ RESET” – which also served as a key slogan during President Mahama’s 2024 election campaign.
Hon. Eduamoah passionately admonished Ghanaian's to stop blaming colonial architects solely for the country’s underdevelopment. He questioned, “How long can we continue to blame others for the mess they caused us over 700 years ago?”
He continued, “Yes, it is important that we are compensated for the injustices and losses suffered during colonization. But in recent years, we have become the architects of our own misfortunes. Are we not inflicting more pain upon ourselves now than they did to us back then?”
To underscore his point, the Minister posed a series of rhetorical questions:
* Did the colonial masters leave our streets filthy as we see them nowadays? Did they teach us to generate refuse that breeds diseases?
Did they leave behind illegal miners (galamsey operators) to pollute our water bodies?
* Did they teach us to abandon broken-down vehicles on highways, causing accidents and killing innocent people?
Hon. Eduamoah, widely known for his bold and decisive leadership—particularly in the area of sanitation—emphasized his commitment to reducing refuse generation across the region. He revealed that Cape Coast alone spends over Nine Billion Old Ghana Cedis (₵9,000,000,000.00) on waste management every quarter. “Meanwhile, the very people we keep blaming didn’t spend a penny managing filth during their rule,” he remarked.
He concluded by urging Ghanaians to stop reliving past atrocities in ways that hinder development. “History must help us understand past events, learn from them, and avoid repeating them. That is how progress is made,” he said.