President John Mahama has admonished Ghanaians to recognize the progress made by the nation and show appreciation.

He said Ghanaians easily forget about the achievements made by his administration and tend to focus on the problems. 

The President told a congregation at the Revival Restoration Centre of the Assemblies of God Church in Accra that substantial strides had been made by the country even in the midst of the many challenges.

He said even though the year 2013 had been a challenging one with energy crisis and market fires among others, some progress had been made.

“But often in Ghana, we have a very short memory; the energy crisis is solved, we don’t remember the darkness we were in and so we’ve put that behind us and we are looking at what the other challenges are,” he said.

He however commended Ghanaians for their patience and endurance through the difficult times.

“I want to thank Ghanaians for the cooperation we’ve had in a very challenging year; we’ve had strikes,  we’ve had problems with the economy, the deficit, and above all we had an election petition for almost eight months of the year; the economy slowed because everybody was focused on what was happening in the Supreme Court but God in His faithfulness to us has seen us through all these,” the president stated.

He also stressed the need for Ghanaians to eschew negative tendencies such as cynicism and appreciate how far the country has come in addressing its developmental challenges.

“If any country will make progress, it is based on the faith and the belief of the citizens of that nation that their nation can be great, that their nation can be strong, that their nation can be prosperous. That is the difference in the rate of growth of nations.”

He said “If you are a nation of cynics, where everybody believes nothing is going well it will be difficult for you to make it. You have to believe that we can make it - and we can make it -  I am certain of that."

Himself a member of the Assemblies of God Church, President Mahama was impressed by the physical support provided by church members during the construction of the church.

He said if the country will make the progress anticipated by Ghanaians; all hands must be on deck; the job of building the nation cannot be left to the leaders alone, he stressed.