Kufuor opens first home coming summit in Accra

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday assured Ghanaians abroad of plans by his administration to accord them their demand for dual citizenship by the end of the year as well as the right to exercise their franchise at elections.

President Kufuor who gave the assurance during the official opening of the Home Coming Summit of Ghanaians living abroad in Accra asked the over 1,000 participants to feel free to make any suggestions that could contribute towards the socio-economic development of the country without inhibition or fear.

His 30-minute speech, which drew intermittent applause from the gathering, centred on efforts by his government to lower political tension and creates an enabling condition for normal business.

The summit, the first of its kind, was organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre and the government on the theme: " Harnessing the global Ghanaian resource for accelerated national development."

President Kufuor said remittances of Ghanaians abroad represent the third biggest foreign exchange inflow, which is a crucial component of national revenue, hence the need to create enabling conditions to support such huge investments.

"One of the first tasks my government set itself on assuming office was to lower the tensions in our body politic. I believe that Ghanaians need to be at peace with each other to be able to tackle the many problems that we have."

President Kufuor said there would be no victimisation or witch-hunt under his administration since everyone deserved to be heard.

He urged the participants to let the country have something laudable to boost its development efforts by not giving in to the sceptics who said it would be "just another talk-shop, of which Ghana has had several times,"