These distinguished persons are Ms Hannah Serwah Tetteh, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Mr Kwabena Osei-Danquah and Madam Anita Kokui Gheho.

The rest are Dr Alfred Mahamdu Braimah, Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri, Madam Getrude Oforiwaa Fefoame, Ambassador Kwasi Quartey and Mr Emmanuel Bombande.

Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Ranking Member on the Committee for Foreign Affairs, in statement on the floor of Parliament, said the success of the distinguished persons had brought great honour to the nation.

He said those prominent persons had helped preserve the great tradition Ghana was associated with and whose human capital could be relied upon by the international community to carry out onerous assignments with distinction.

Mr Ablakwa said Ms Hannah Serwah Tetteh was sworn in on December 10, 2018 by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, as the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the UN office to the African Union.

He said Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong has also been appointed a member of the International Court of Arbitration. Her appointment took effect on July 1, 2018. Mr Ablakwa noted that Madam Getrude Oforiwaa Fefoame, who is visually impaired, was selected on June 12, 2018 to the committee that oversees the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

He said Madam Anita Kokui Gheho had been appointed the Deputy Joint Special Representative for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to replace Bintou Keita of Guinea.

He announced that the ECOWAS Council of Ministers has appointed Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku as ECOWAS Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research following his nomination by President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Mr Ablakwa also stated that Dr Alfred Mahamdu Braimah has been appointed Auditor-General of ECOWAS Institutions. Dr Braimah before this appointment was the ECOWAS Director of Finance.He announced that Mr Kwabena Osei-Danquah has been appointed as the Chief de Cabinet to the President of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Mr Osei-Danquah, before his appointment, had served in various capacities as a diplomat for Ghana and a senior official of the UN for over 33 years.

He said Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri appointment was announced by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres as the Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

He succeeded Major General Jai Shanker of India, who completed his assignment on September 30, 2017. Mr Ablakwa further stated that Mr Emmanuel Bombande was appointed by the United Nations as its Senior Mediation Advisor in the Central African Republic. He resumed duties on August 1, 2017.

He said Ambassador Kwasi Quartey was elected on January 30, 2017 as the Deputy Chairman of the African Union at the opening of the 28th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Mr Frank Annor-Dompreh, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the feat by the distinguished Ghanaians was worth celebrating, but more of such successes could be achieved and called on the Government to give them support. He said the image of Ghana had always resonated positively with the international community adding that the exploits of the Ghanaian UN Peacekeeping troops had also positioned the country positively on the global map.

Mr Mahama Ayariga, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, stated that the country tended to be highly underrepresented in many of the higher international organisations. He said the major reason for this underrepresentation was because many Ghanaians were not bi-lingual and most of those institutions would want to attract people who were multi-lingual.

He called on the country’s educational institutions and persons who would want to pursue their carrier in this international arena to learn French and other foreign languages to enable them to secure jobs.

Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader, express satisfaction with the achievement of these Ghanaian diplomats on the international scene. He commended the Government for continuing to entrench the practice of providing “No objection” to the appointment of envoys and foreign service staff irrespective of their perceived political party affiliation.

He said Ghana’s foreign policy must be consistent, devoid of parochial interests but should be one that deepened the nation’s ties with other countries.