Ghana is not a hopeless state and has made gains, president John Mahama says, pointing to the UN human development indicators which he said is a cumulative work of all the successive governments.

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In a non-partisan speech, president Mahama said:“What we are enjoying today is a cumulative work of all the governments that have… so when a new government comes you don’t have to start from level one, you start from where they left off and then you take it to the next level so cumulatively we are making good progress.

"If you take all the UN human development indicators, it gives clear evidence that this country is moving in the right direction.

"Maternal mortality is falling, infant mortality is dropping and life expectancy is the highest in West Africa, average 63 years where as in other countries it is 52 years."

President Mahama told the congregants that 76% of the population have access to clean drinking water, "more than 80% of our people have access to electricity and so you can see that we are making progress.”

President also noted that Ghanaians have become pessimists, believing that nothing good can come from within.

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“Sometimes I wonder and ask myself, it looks like outsiders have more faith in our country than we ourselves have in our country.

We think that our country is a basket case and anything that we do, we cannot make it, but you go out and they appreciate what you are doing,” he said.