President Akufo-Addo has used his platform at the 63^rd Independence Anniversary celebration in Kumasi to lament Ghana’s wasted opportunities which have hindered the country from attaining its economic breakthrough.

According to him, such wasted prospects have cost Ghana its development in the infrastructure sector, leading to the deficit the country now battles with.

However, he believes despite the country’s shortcomings, there is a need to be joyous for the feats the country has attained.

“At 63, we know that we have squandered many opportunities that, properly utilized, would have brought us to the economic breakthrough to which we aspire.

“We lament and rightly so, the infrastructure deficits that plague all sectors of our lives, and the considerable number of our people who still live in poverty.

“But, if truth be told, we have a solid reason to rejoice and be thankful to the Almighty, for this is a blessed nation,” he said.

The president called on Ghanaians to work together in order to achieve a prosperous, peaceful and happy Ghana.

According to him, it behoves on Ghanaians to show the rest of Africa and the entire black race that “indeed we can build and run a successful, prosperous and happy country.”

“The consensus is holding for all of us to work towards the prosperous, peaceful and happy Ghana we want.

“We all recognize that the responsibility as the first sub-Saharan colonial country to gain independence is not simply to build a successful country.

“We owe it to the rest of the continent and the black race to demonstrate that, indeed we can build and run a successful, prosperous and happy country. This is a task we do not shirk, and which all Ghanaians accept,” he said.