The former President of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, has urged Ghanaians to keep hope alive in 2023.
IIn his New Year message, Mr Mahama expressed his wish that the new year may open “the pathway and bring us to the cusp of building the ‘Ghana We Want’, a Ghana of opportunities for all and one in which our individual and collective aspirations are achieved.”

The report by Graphic newspaper quoted Mahama as saying that despite the economic battering the country has suffered in the closing year, Ghanaians “cannot give up on our dear motherland Ghana” in the face of incoming austerity measures and sacrifices 2023 brings.

“Our dear nation, Ghana, defaulted on our debt obligations due to reckless binge borrowing over the last few years.

“Ghanaians have been confronted with unprecedented hardships never seen under this Fourth Republic.

“And our democracy and patience as a people were tested to their elastic limits.

“We welcome the New Year, 2023, knowing that a journey of austerity and sacrifice is just beginning.

“But we cannot give up HOPE! We cannot give up on our dear motherland Ghana,” he said.

He urged Ghanaians to remember the solemn words of the hymnist, Johnson Oatman Jr, “when he urges us to Count Our Blessings and Name Them One by One”.

“We have been fortunate to survive as a nation and are lucky by the grace of the Almighty to be alive to see the dawn of a new year. Once we have the gift of life, which is the most important of all, there is opportunity in the new year to be better versions of ourselves and work even harder towards salvaging our dear nation from the avoidable abyss into which she has been plunged.

“May this new year open the pathway and bring us to the cusp of building the ‘Ghana We Want’— a Ghana of opportunities for all and one in which our individual and collective aspirations are achieved,” he added.