The state on Tuesday, 14th March 2023, honoured the men and women who were entrusted with the responsibility of keeping Ghanaians safe at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ghana’s foreign friends and partners who aided the country in that enterprise, as well as the men and women who made sure that the maritime boundary dispute with Cote d’Ivoire, ended favourably for the Republic of Ghana, thereby, ensuring that the country’s western maritime resources, including its oil and gas potential, rightfully remained in Ghana’s possession were also honoured at a national event.

President Akufo-Addo presented the award to the awardees.

Apart from these two main categories of awardees, that is the COVID and ITLOS awardees, there was also a third category of awardees of a few individuals whose work deserved the plaudits of the nation. They were the late great philosopher, Prof. Johnson Kwame Wiredu, who was posthumous awarded the Order of the Volta – Companion. The rest were Ms. Margaret Sophia Darkwah, the first female Commissioner of Police; Prof. Akwasi Osei, former Chief Executive of the Mental Health Authority; and Dr. Veronica Agartha Martinson, former Executive Director of the Cocoa Research Institute, Ghana.

President Akufo-Addo stated that the awards ceremony was a purely national event, devoid of partisan, ethnic or religious considerations, and organised solely in recognition of the services offered by its recipients to the growth, development, progress and prosperity of Ghana.

The President stressing that the award had nothing to do with politics stated that “I can happily say that I am not aware of the political sympathies or views of the overwhelming majority of today’s awardees. Their politics is of no moment to me, only their exploits in favour of Mother Ghana.”