Education must emphasise nations’ interdependence - Kamala Harris emphasises at Cape Coast durbar
The Vice-President of the United States, Kamala Harris, has said the world must use education as a tool to emphasise the interconnectivity and interdependence of all nations.
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Ms Harris said countries around the globe must recognise the greater good of education and use it to orient all everywhere to countries’ interdependence on one another.
She was speaking at a durbar of the chiefs and the people of the Central Regional capital, Cape Coast.
The welcome
The chiefs, led by Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, the Paramount Chief of the Oguaa Traditional Area, and queens, in all their splendour, clergymen and professors from academia in Cape Coast and some from the region and members of the Diaspora now resident in Ghana, sat to receive Vice-President Harris, her husband, Douglas Emhoff, and her entourage at the courtyard of the Emintsimadze Palace in Cape Coast.
The traditional dances from the Central Regional Centre for National Culture folkloric group were apt and energetic.
Ms Harris and her entourage arrived around 3:15 p.m.
The Emintsimadze palace has received a few high rank officials from the United Stated and without exception Ms Harris was welcomed with the warmth and grace of the people of the ancient city of Cape Coast.
The Ghanaian songstress, Irene Logan, gave a beautiful rendition of the Ghanaian and American National anthems after which Omankyeame Kwame Benya offered libation for the guidance of the ancestors for the start of the ceremony.
Ms Harris recognised Cape Coast as a citadel of quality education and the national and continental efforts made towards education and said that gave her a great sense of optimism.
She commended stakeholders who had worked to promote education in the area and the country saying the effort at prioritising education was laudable.
“The work that you have done here in terms of prioritising and having such success in education is something that in my own country, the United States, and across the globe must be a greater priority for all of us,” she stated, adding education must help people around the globe to understand the connections, the interconnections and the interdependence of all saying the USA and many other countries understood that it was essential to make a education a greater priority.
History and education
Speaking on history and education, Ms Kamala said it was important that the history of every group informed what was taught the next generation to impact its future and destiny.
“I too believe that we must remember history for many reasons, especially in the face of, at times, people who would attempt to deny it, and we must teach it.
“But teach it also with an understanding that it should teach us not only about our past but also about our destiny and our future, that we must learn from it in a way that we make the ancestors proud and understand the broad shoulders upon which we stand,” she stated.
Central Regional Minister
The Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan, said the region would appreciate partnerships that would promote education, tourism and leadership development.
She stressed that the impact of the government’s free senior high school policy had provided access to many vulnerable youth saying she was optimistic that the proposed one million dollar investment in Africa by the USA would strengthen the continent and help it to prepare children for a highly technologically advanced future.
She said Ghanaian youth had excelled in robotics competitions, and prayed for support for youth development
Mrs Assan also called on her to work to support efforts to empower women to present themselves to be heard and to promote the interest of the marginalized in society.
She also called for constructive support of partnerships for mutual development for an accelerated transformative socio-economic standards of the people.
Osabarimba Kwesi Atta
Osabarimba Kwesi Atta called for support from Ms Harris for a slave museum as a legacy project in Cape Coast to further concretise the relationship between Cape Coast and the USA.
He suggested further talks to promote socio-economic benefits for the people of the area, particularly a reciprocal visit to the US to further cement relations.
Vice-President Harris and her husband were presented with beautiful Kente cloths.
They later took a tour of the Cape Coast Castle.
