President John Dramani Mahama (L) and Dr Michael Agyekum Addo (R)
President John Dramani Mahama has identified the broader impact of certain economic decisions made by the government on individuals, citing the Domestic Debt Exchange program as an example.
Speaking at the funeral service of Dr Michael Agyekum Addo, the founder of KAMA Group, on Saturday, March 29, 2025, President Mahama recounted their last conversation, where he encouraged Dr. Addo to remain hopeful despite the financial challenges he faced during the program.
“The last time I spoke to him was in circumstances that were not very pleasant. I’d heard him give an interview, interview after the Domestic Debt Exchange had been concluded and he had been struck very hard financially by the program and he had been forced to come out and talk about how it had affected him personally. And so, I gave him a call to console him, sympathise and urged him not to give up hope and that there is always life where there’s a will.
“Where there’s a will, there’s hope. After that I didn’t hear from him again. And the next thing came the shocking news that he has passed. For me it was a shock”, he noted.
President Mahama then reiterated the need for leaders to consider the impact of their economic decisions.
“For, leaders when we take decisions, we must know that our decisions affect the lives of individual people. KAMA was well known and his story with regards to the bond exchange is widely known because he spoke about it and because of the personality he has.
“But I’m sure that all over the country there are thousands of people advanced in age whose pensions and provident funds were invested in the domestic debt exchange who probably have also passed away and we don’t know about it or who are sitting at home in poverty, do not have monies to buy their medicines and all that, and so for me the lesson is that in taking decisions we must know that our decisions as leaders affect individual lives,” he stated.
Dr Michael Agyekum Addo, a respected figure in Ghana’s pharmaceutical sector, passed away on Friday, November 1, 2024, at the age of 74.
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