News

Queen’s Baton lands in Ghana

After hours of anxious wait, the esteemed Queen’s Baton Relay touched down in the country yesterday and was received later by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House.

Transported by the Administrative Manager of the Sierra Leone Commonwealth Games Association, Mr Alie Gibril Koroma, the Baton is expected to hop across 72 Commonwealth nations and Territories and then arrive back in England at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022, where Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth will take out her message and read it to the whole world.

The Baton’s destination started from Cyprus, Malta, Nigeria, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and now Ghana (that is the 3rd West African country to receive the baton)

President of the Commonwealth Games Association of Ghana (CGAG), Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah, told the media that the arrival of the baton signified a thrilling moment in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

“It is fantastic to have the baton arrive in Ghana, reaching the sixth country destination out of the 72 Commonwealth nations and Territories it will be arriving at.”

The Baton will be in Ghana for the next two days and would be held by other dignitaries of the state as well as celebrities and distinguished sportsmen and women.

It will move to Tema and Kumasi where the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will clutch it with some of his subjects at the Manhyia Palace, then to Ntonso, where the Adinkra symbols originated and Bonwere, known to be the origin of the popular Kente cloth.

At least, 100 people are expected to bear the Baton before it moves to CameroOn on October 28.

Present at the airport to welcome the Baton was Mr Malcolm Hood, representing the British High Commission and members of the committee in charge of the Queen’s Baton in Ghana.

They include chairman of the Queen’s Baton Committee, Mr Fred Otu Lartey, Mr Isaac Duah, Mr Melvin Brown, Mr Abdul Hayye Yartey, Mrs Delphina Quaye, Mr Michael Ayeh and Miss Farida Idriss, an administrator at the CGAG.

BY JOHN VIGAH

Show More
Back to top button