By Jeffrey Curtis Dyson
It was display of rich and colouful French culture as France and its embassies across the world commemorated the 143th French National Day which marked the French revolution’s key moment; symbolizing the fight of the French people against monarchy and oppression
The Bastille Day Celebration was held on the 14th July, 2023, inside the residence of the French Ambassador to Ghana in Cantonments in Accra. The Ghanaian anthem was performed by Deboice; while theFrench anthem was sung by Guy Bertrand followed bya toast.
In his introductory speech, the French Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Jules-Armand Aniambossou reiterated the relevance of the celebration of Bastille Day to the people of France. He went on the outline key events of the embassy for the year.
“In 2023, around 20 projects financed by the French Embassy are implemented through partnerships between Ghanaian and French teams”. H.E. Jules-Armand Aniambossou announced a new exchange programme which will enable more Ghanaian students to travel to study in France and French students to study in Ghana.
“We need not only mutual respect, we need equality and reciprocity. France continues to strengthen its partnership with Ghana in the field of French language teaching thanks to the close collaboration with the Ghanaian Ministry of Education. Ghana counts a large network of French-language radio stations which has been working closely with the French Embassy since 2020. The French Embassy continues to support the country’s bilingual public schools, which offer French and English tuition, such as l’école Ronsard.
Senior Advisor to the President of Ghana, Mr. Yaw Osafo-Marfo who spoke on behalf of President Akufo-Addo reiterated that: “Our relationships have been characterized by high level visits by officials of both countries; for instance, the recent visit to France by President Akufo-Addo. The relationships between our countries will continue to strengthen”.
There was dance performance by the Africa Breaking Academy and a video of Destination Ghana Global Project, which aims at promoting Tourism in Ghana
Legendary musician, Bessa Simons, performed four of his all-time greatest songs: Belembe, Sunshine Day, Awowye and SiNana. The Nkyinkyim band was the carpet band for the night. A raffle draw had three persons presented by return air tickets from Mees van Ojik, Country Manager of Air France/KLM and Micheline Yahot, Country Manager of Air Cote D’Ivoire.
Award-winning musician Kofi Kinaata perform for the next hour till the end of the highly attended evening made up chiefs, senior citizens, corporate Ghana, members of the diplomatic corps and the biggest gathering of Francophone Community in Ghana
DJ Spliff was in charge of music on the night, which was hosted by Anita Erskines.
The event was sponsored by Total Energies, Société Générale Ghana, Touton Processing Company, Siemens, Meridian Port Services, Danone / Fanmilk, Grel, SMT, Bureau Véritas, Sahara Natural Resources, First Atlantic Bank, Air Cote D’ivoire, Air France, Sonapack Ghana Ltd, CFAO Ghana Ltd, Louis Dreyfus Commodits, Liebherr, Orsam, Africa Global Logistics, CMA CGM Ghana Ltd.
