The good work President Akufo-Addo has done for the past eight years has attracted the attention of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who has honoured him with his country’s highest awards – National de la Légion d’Honneur – which translates into English as the National Order of the Legion of Honour.
At a short but impressive ceremony held at the French capital, Paris, yesterday, Mr Emmanuel Macron conferred on the President the “Grand Officier de la Légion d’Honneur” (Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour).
The National Order of the Legion of Honour is the highest honour of merit given by the French Republic to individuals who have provided exceptional services to France, or defended causes and ideals that France supports, such as democracy, human rights, press freedom and humanitarian services.
The award was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, and has been preserved by all French Governments, since the Nineteenth Century.
The Order is divided into five categories, namely the Grand Cross (Grand-croix), the Grand Officer (Grand Officier), the Commander (Commandeur), Officer (Officier) and Knight (Chevalier), with the Grand Cross being the highest category and the Knight being the lowest.
The French President is the Grand Master of the Order and confers the orders on deserving dignitaries.
Previous awardees of the honour include the former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, former President of the Swiss Confederation, Pascal Couchepin, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Italian Prime Minister, Massimo d’Alema and the President of the Russia, Vladimir Putin.
Conferring the award, President Macron lauded President Macron lauded President Akufo-Addo’s commitment to democracy and human rights, as well as strengthening the diplomatic ties between Ghana and France.
President Akufo-Addo is on a day’s State visit to France, where he held bilateral talks with the President of the France, H.E. Emmanuel Macron.
He also spoke at an event organised by France Volontaires, the French platform for international volunteering, and a high-level event organised by UNESCO in honour of first African Director-General of UNESCO, Amadou Mahtar-M’Bow.
