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President John Mahama honoured 33 distinguished Ghanaians and foreign nationals at the National Honour and Awards Day which took place yesterday.

The awardees, comprising 28 Ghanaians and five foreigners, were from various fields of endeavour including Public Service, Chieftaincy, Civil Service, Judiciary, Education, Consular Service, Finance and Banking, Humanitarian Service, Agriculture, Philanthropy and Medicine.

Fifteen personalities were honoured with the ‘Companion of the Order of the Volta’, while five others were decorated with ‘Officer of the Order of the Volta’ and 10 with the ‘Member of the Order of the Volta’.

Three personalities, one posthumously, were honoured with the Grand Medal.

The Companion of the Order of the Volta awardees were Edward Korbly Doe Adjaho, Speaker of Parliament; John Henry Martey Newman, former Chief of Staff at the presidency; Nana Ato Dadzie, a lawyer and current Omanbaatan in Gomoa Ankamu; Professor Kwesi Botchwey, Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission; Nana Kwame Akuoko Sarpong, Paramount Chief of Agogo Traditional Area; and Ato Kwamena Ahwoi, Chairman of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund.

Others were Joseph Henry Owusu Acheampong, former member of the Council of State; Dr Kwabena Duffuor, former Minister of Finance; John Sackah Addo, Chairman of Prudential Bank Limited; Lieutenant General Peter Augiane Blay rtd., Former Ambassador to Cote d’Ivoire; Paul Tawiah Quaye, former Inspector General of Police; Major General Joseph Narh Adinkrah rtd, former Chief of Army Staff of the Ghana Army; Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, immediate-past Inspector General of Police; Samuel Valis-Akyianu, former Ambassador to Serbia and High Commissioner to Canada; and Colonel David Gbon Zanlerigu rtd., former Minister of Works and Housing.

Personalities that were awarded the Officer of the Order of the Volta were Ambassador Chris Kpodo, former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration; Professor Raymond Bagulo Bening, First Vice Chancellor of the University of Development Studies; Osei Tutu Prempeh, former Auditor-General of the Audit Service; William Kwadwo Asiedu, former Director General of the Ghana Prison Service; and Michael Kofi Bansah, also a former Director General of the Ghana Prisons Service.

The members of the Order of the Volta included Ambassador Agnes Aggrey-Orleans, first female Ambassador to Ethiopia; Dr Uma Sen, Obstetrics and Gynaecology consultant at the Volta Regional Hospital, Ho; Mary Steele, Linguistics and Community Development Expert; Sophia Gifty Awotwi, former Director of Education at the Ghana Education Service; Justice Stephen Allan Brobbey, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court and lecturer at the Ghana School of Law; and Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah, former Justice of the Supreme Court and current chairman of the Governing Body of DATA Protection Commission.

Other members of the Order of the Volta were Woeli Kwaku Kemevor, former Head of Civil Service; Naa Alhaji Salifu Dakurah, former Assistant Director of Education at the Ghana Education Service; Worlanyo Kwadjo Siabi, water and sanitation engineer; and Henricus Johannes Maria Wienjes, an agro business investor.

Dr Micheal Roy Appiah (posthumously), former Executive Director of the Cocoa Research Institute; Manfred Schroder, former Consul of Ghana in Dortmund; and Dr Christopher John Kirubi, EBS, Chairman of Centum Investment Company Limited, were honoured with the Grand Medal.

President Mahama charged Ghanaians to remain committed to the cause of national development and to learn from many of the country’s heroes who had played diverse roles in the development of the country.

This is not the first time the state has honoured citizens for their contribution to national development.

In 2008, the erstwhile Kufuor Administration organised a similar award ceremony to honour key individuals who had played diverse roles in the development of the country.

The last National Awards ceremony was held on 14th October, 2011.