Ghana to host 100 years of Lions Clubs International
Executives of the Lions Clubs of Ghana yesterday paid a courtesy call on the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, at his office in Accra.
Advertisement
The visit enabled the Lions to officially announce the forthcoming centennial anniversary celebration of the Lions Clubs International (LCI), which is the umbrella body of the Lions Clubs.
The Lions also formally invited the Daily Graphic to all its programmes for the anniversary.
Some of the members of the editorial board of the Daily Graphic were also present at the meeting.
Lions Centennial celebration
The Chairperson of the Protocol Committee for the convention, Lion Kate Baaba Hudson, said the anniversary committee decided to pay the visit as part of the preparatory measures towards awareness creation of the convention.
Through the visit, she said when official invitations for specific activities of the convention were sent, the heads of the media houses would then have had earlier insight into the programmes, and thereby also make it easier for them to support the Lions.
“This is just part of our preparatory programme to let the media houses know us so that when we send letters, the bosses of the various media houses will know what we are doing to be able to support us better.
We will hold a press conference to officially launch the celebration and letters would be sent to that effect soon,” Miss Hudson added.
She said Ghana Lions would have the privilege to host Lions from 28 countries including Togo, Benin, La Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra-Leone,Burkina-Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Biassau, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
Lion Hudson said other participating countries included Angola, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Congo, Djibouti, Equitorial Guinea and Chad.
The Protocol Committee Chairperson, who is also the Foreign and Regional Editor of the Daily Graphic, mentioned other countries as the Comoros, La Reuion, Mauritius, Madagascar and Mayotte.
She said dignitaries were also expected from other international sister organisations.
Lions not elitist
A Past Region Chairperson of Lions Clubs International, Lion (Mrs) Gladys Feddy Akyea, who represented Past District Governor, Lion (Mrs) Gloria Esi Lassey, who is the Chairperson of the Centennial Anniversary Planning Committee, said the Lions Clubs were not restricted to the elite neither was it a secret society.
She said anyone who had the passion to serve humanity and was ready to place his or her time, talent or treasury at the disposal of society could become a member.
Lion Akyea was happy to note that the association had membership which included teachers/lecturers, media and legal practitioners, business executives, traders, shipping experts among others.
Anytime someone was inducted into the association, the inductee was allowed to invite his or her family and friends to the function and they could testify to the fact that nothing was hidden.
Lion Gladys said the association’s main objective was the preservation of the eyesight and the prevention of blindness in line of which clubs undertake eye screening exercises, give out glasses and drugs among other things.
She said Lions undertake other health-related activities such as diabetes screening and also organises reading clinics and support the less privileged in society.
Lion Akyea was happy to note that Lions partner bodies such as Operation Smile, where they undertake surgeries to correct deformed lips of patients. Lions also have partnership with the Red Cross, she added.
She mentioned projects which had been undertaken by the Lions of Ghana to include an Eye-Care Centre at the Tema General Hospital and the Eye Care and Training Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital which had contributions from Moorfields of the United Kingdom and the government of Ghana.
Lion Gladys said the organisation was made up of clubs, zones, regions and districts, which come together to form multiple districts and was happy to note that Ghana was hosting the Multiple District Convention.
Lion Gladys emphasised that this was the second time Ghana was hosting such a convention. The first time was in 2002.
She announced that Lions had as their slogan, ”Wherever there is a need, there is a Lion”.
Lion Gladys thanked the Daily Graphic on behalf of the Lions organisation for their support over the years, saying, “Your publicity has made our visibility very enormous and we are very grateful for that”.
Daily Graphic’s commitment
Mr Tetteh welcomed the team and expressed the company’s commitment towards helping to promote the good social works of the club.
The newspaper, according to him does not use its platform to destroy people or organisations but only project their activities.
However, he added that because the paper always stands for the truth, it will always ensure that it hears the other side of all stories.
Mr Tetteh mentioned the other papers of the Group and explained what they do, emphasising the digital version which was introduced recently.
