President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to send members of Ghana‘s 48th Engineers Army Regiment to support reconstruction efforts in hurricane-devastated Jamaica.
Composed of highly trained personnel skilled in specialised military and civil engineering tasks, the regiment will include engineers, masons, carpenters, and other experts tasked with constructing makeshift shelters for affected communities.
The announcement was made during President Mahama’s keynote address at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra, marking the 80th Anniversary of the Manchester Declaration, known as the Fifth Pan-African Congress.
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The Congress, held from October 15–21, 1945, at Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall in Manchester, United Kingdom, was chaired by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s future leader.
In his address, President Mahama urged African leaders to extend support to Jamaica and Cuba in the spirit of Pan-Africanism.
He recounted receiving a call on November 17 from Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who, along with other Caribbean leaders, was in Jamaica to assess the impact of Hurricane Melissa.
He noted that this was the first time Caribbean leaders fully grasped the scale of the destruction.
Highlighting the importance of Pan-African solidarity, President Mahama said Ghana had already dispatched essential supplies, including rice, medication, plastic buckets, bowls, mattresses, blankets, and other materials, to aid the affected populations in Jamaica and Cuba.
He emphasised that the immediate priority, as outlined by Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, was to provide displaced people with shelter from rain and sun.
The President also revealed that Ghana’s Foreign Ministry had reached out to the African Union, encouraging member states to contribute items such as blankets and tarpaulins to construct temporary shelters.
He appealed to African nations to support Jamaica and Cuba, reinforcing the ethos of Pan-African cooperation. Former President John Agyekum Kufuor was among the dignitaries present at the event.
