President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed worry that 60 years after political independence, many Ghanaians are still wallowing in poverty.

This, he says, is unacceptable and has therefore called for a concerted effort to fight poverty and deprivation in the country.

The president said this yesterday during the national commemoration of Ghana’s 60th independence anniversary.

In the Brong-Ahafo Region, the day was marked at the Jubilee Park in Sunyani with over 1,200 pupils and students taking part in the march past. In attendance were two contingents from the Ghana Police Service, one each from the Ghana Army, Prisons Service, CEPS, Fire Service and Immigration Service.

The Regional Minister, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremey, took the anniversary salute on behalf of the president.

According to President Addo, after political independence in 1957, the expectation for the country was that it was going to grow economically but that was not the case as many Ghanaians find themselves in abject poverty.

The president was also worried that Ghanaians are destroying the environment to the extent that even timber (wood) has to be imported to meet the nation’s wood demand saying, “Today, we import timber for our use, and the description of our land as tropical forest no longer fits the reality. Our rivers and lakes are disappearing and those that still exist are all polluted.”

To reverse that and build a prosperous economy for the citizens to live a dignified, President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo called for hard work, enterprising spirit, creativity and consistent fight against corruption. He asked Ghanaians to eschew sectional or tribal sentiments so that with a united front, resources could be mobilized for economic development. He dedicated this year’s anniversary to protecting the environment for future generations.

Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremey used the occasion to thank traditional authorities for the warm welcome accorded him when he visited their palaces saying, he had been encouraged and motivated to work harder for region.