President Nana Akufo Addo, on Thursday participated in a Special Eucharist Mass Service to mark the beginning of the year at the Jubilee House in Accra.

The Presidential New Year Service was held on his behalf by the Archbishops, Bishops and Clergy of the Anglican Church of Ghana.

In a brief remark to convey his gratitude to God on behalf of the Presidency, Akufo-Addo said, “despite working in very difficult circumstances, the belief in the constant and eternal presence of the Almighty has fortified our knowledge that all times He is with us and will never forsake us”.

The association with God, according to him, “enables us to be able to tolerate many of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that are thrown at us in this House.”

This, the President continued is “seen as part of the work that we have to do for the people of Ghana and be prepared to be open to all kinds of statements; some malicious, some in good faith, but then we take it all aboard because we are trying to build an open society, a nation, that guarantees freedoms of all sorts.”

“So those who are the front of it have to have the temperament and the spirit, the psyche that enables them to tolerate whatever is said and in many cases be able to derive some hidden truth in what is said and use it for the betterment of our society,” President Akufo-Addo added.

“I want to thank each and every one of these eminent priests that have come from all over the country to come and grace Jubilee House today. It’s a day that will long live in the memory of all of us who work here and even after I am gone, I am sure people will continue to talk about this day that for the first time, a service of this nature was conducted for the President,” he concluded.