President John Dramani Mahama is expected to leave Accra today, Thursday, to Paris for a two-day Elysee Summit on Peace and Security in Africa. 

The Summit being hosted by French President Francois Hollande will be attended by a number of African and other World Leaders.

The heads of state will in addition to security also discuss economic partnership between African countries and France, the use of fossil fuels for industrial activities and its contribution to global warming. 

First Lady, Mrs. Lordina Mahama, who will be accompanying President Mahama, will join a meeting of Spouses and make a presentation on sexual violence against women (in conflict) in Africa. 

President Mahama will leave France on Sunday to New York where he will deliver the inaugural Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum Lecture on December 10. The Forum will take place in the Olin Hall at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

The Forum will bring together international leaders and thinkers to discuss Africa’s challenges “in keeping with Professor Chinua Achebe’s life and work”. Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and literary critic taught at Bard College for nearly 20 years.

President Mahama’s lecture is entitled “Women in Africa: How the Other Half Lives”. It will be followed by a discussion on “The Role of Women in the Development and Democratization of Africa” with Ghana’s Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection Nana Oye Lithur, President of the African American Institute Amini Kajunju and Bard College professors Myra Young Armstead and Peter Rosenblum.

According to a press release, the Forum opens with a performance by the Ghanaian music group Sankofa. Bard College President Leon Botstein will welcome attendees and speak on the legacy of Chinua Achebe. Ghanaian poet, Professor Abena Busia, the current Chair of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, and co-director as well as co-editor of the groundbreaking Women Writing Africa Project will give a reading.

Professor Mrs. Christie Chinwe Okoli-Achebe will then speak on “Professor Achebe’s Life in Perspective: The Writer and the Quest for Exemplary Leadership and Good Governance in Africa.” President Mahama’s lecture will commence at 5 pm.