Speaker of Parliament of Ghana, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, delivered the defining address of the 33rd CEANA Convention at the Bethesda North Marriott on Saturday night, challenging the Council of Ewe Associations of North America to move from micro charity to a macro, immortal legacy.
The ballroom, decorated with CEANA 2026 banners and the flags of Ghana, Togo, Benin and the United States, was filled with over 1300 attendees, more than ten Members of Parliament, diplomats, and Togbuiwo and Mamawo from across the diaspora.
Dressed in a blue Ewe smock, Bagbin opened by honoring CEANA’s journey since its founding in Washington, D.C. in 1993 — 33 years of schools, libraries, clinics, scholarships and community infrastructure built across Eweland in Ghana, Togo and Benin.
Then he paused and asked the question that silenced the hall:
“CEANA has 33 years of achievements. Just one year less than Ghana’s Fourth Republic. But there is one simple question: What will the people back home remember this 33rd Convention for?”
“I want this convention, the 33rd Convention, to become a turning point,” he declared. “Let’s dream big. Think big. And act big to give birth to a mega lasting legacy project.”
Bagbin pointed to CEANA’s proposed partnership with the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) to establish a Cancer Research and Treatment Centre in Ho, Volta Region.
He described it as a legacy that can be touched, that will outlive its builders, that could save lives and end what he called the cruel medical exile families face when forced to seek treatment outside the region.
Bagbin confronted the long-standing pattern of diaspora support — monthly remittances for school fees, funerals, hospital bills and emergencies.
Important, yes. But insufficient, he argued.
“We must move our people away from the dependency syndrome. The best help is not sending money every month. The best help is creating opportunity.”
He demanded a shift from remittances to wealth creation, from sympathy to strategy, from nostalgia to nation-building. He called on CEANA to become an economic, professional and investment bridge — connecting lawyers to legal reforms, doctors to health systems, engineers to infrastructure, and entrepreneurs to markets.
In the most geopolitical part of the speech, Bagbin reminded the diaspora that Ewe identity predates the borders drawn in Berlin.
“Ewes live in Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. Our language crosses borders. Our families cross borders. Our culture crosses borders. So why should our economic cooperation stop at the border?”
He invoked the cultural corridor from Kpando, Ho and Aflao to Lome, Atakpame, Cotonou and Porto-Novo, urging youth to embrace indigenous identity. He recalled his landmark decision as Speaker to replace colonial parliamentary wigs with authentic West African attire, citing intellectual giants like Prof. R.E.G. Armattoe, Jacob Wilson Sey and Anton Wilhelm Amo as models of courage and aspiration.
For Bagbin, the 33rd Convention must be remembered not for another small project, but for the bold decision to build one mega project that permanently etches CEANA’s name into the story of Eweland.
