"50 Cent" Award Outlawed

No More Grand Order of the Star and Eagles

In what can be described as a slap in the face of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, His Excellency President John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, this morning described as both inappropriate and discriminatory, the newest national award category of the Grand Order of the Star and Eagles of Ghana, instituted in July of 2008 by his predecessor to honor Presidents of the Republic of Ghana after successfully completing their term of office.

He has therefore repealed and replaced it with what was instituted by Ghana’s First President, Osagyefuo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, on 1st July 1960.

Ex-President Kufuor, on July 3, 2008 designed the Order of the Star and Eagles award as the highest honour of the nation to be conferred on ex-presidents by the Chief Justice. Every new president was to be given the colour of the order as he or she is sworn into office, to be worn on all formal national occasions.

But Mr. Kufuor received a lot of flak from a section of the public, who deemed it as very unnecessary with some even tagging him as “Bokassa”.

Delivering his Second State of the Nation Address in Parliament today, President Mills however gave the assurance that “any person(s) who received those honours under the 2008 instrument acquired vested rights and therefore will not be required to return them.”

“It is a matter of fact that the exclusive national honours class of the Order of the Star and Eagles of Ghana available only to presidents, is both inappropriate and discriminatory. I have therefore decided to repeal the instrument which introduced this class and replace it with the original national honours warrant executed on the first of July 1960 by the founder of our nation…I believe however that any persons who received those honours under the 2008 instrument acquired vested rights and therefore will not be required to return them,” President Mills told the House.