John Mahama sworn in as Ghana’s president, guarantees to ‘reset’ the nation
With round 20 African leaders in attendance, the 66-year-old is sworn in as Ghana’s president for third time.
John Mahama has been sworn in for a second time period as Ghana’s president at a ceremony within the capital Accra, with round 20 African leaders in attendance.
Mahama received 56 % of the vote within the nation’s presidential election on December 9, defeating ruling get together candidate and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who secured 41 %.
Mahama takes over from outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo, who served two phrases in energy.
“Right this moment ought to mark the chance to reset our nation,” the 66-year-old new president, sporting the West African nation’s nationwide costume, informed a jubilant crowd decked within the inexperienced, crimson, black and white hues of his Nationwide Democratic Congress (NDC) get together on Tuesday.
Power radiated from Accra’s Black Star Sq., as a sea of elate faces waved Ghanaian and NDC flags, chanted and broke into spontaneous dance to the beat of drums and the blaring honk of vuvuzelas.
Amongst these current had been Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Burkina Faso’s chief Ibrahim Traore, Kenyan President William Ruto, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon’s Brice Oligui Nguema.
Mahama, 66, was sworn in alongside Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the primary girl to develop into vp in Ghana.
Mahama’s return to the presidency ends eight years in energy for the New Patriotic Occasion (NPP) beneath President Nana Akufo-Addo, whose final time period was marked by Ghana’s worst financial turmoil in years, a bailout by the Worldwide Financial Fund, and a debt default.
Mahama, who led Ghana from 2012 to early 2017, had beforehand failed twice to win again the presidency. However in December’s election, he managed to faucet into expectations of change amongst Ghanaians.
On Black Star Sq., supporters of the elected chief exuded pleasure, hope and optimism.
“I’ve by no means been so proud to be Ghanaian,” Akosua Nyarko, 28, a instructor from the southern metropolis of Cape Coast, informed the AFP information company. “The power right here is superb … That is the daybreak of a brand new period!”
Mohammed Abubakar, a 50-year-old farmer from Tamale in northern Ghana, stated he was assured Mahama would prioritise rural growth.
“Coming right here to Accra for this historic occasion is a dream come true,” the farmer stated, including that Mahama’s “management offers me hope that my kids may have a greater future”.
A author and devotee of Afrobeat music, Mahama wrote in his memoir – My First Coup d’Etat, And Different True Tales from the Misplaced A long time of Africa – that he was modified by his boyhood experiences throughout a 1966 army coup.
He was born in northern Ghana as a baby of privilege, his home being the one one within the village with a diesel generator.
His father, who served as a junior authorities minister, was briefly detained and interrogated by the 1966 coup leaders however later launched unhurt.
Mahama was additionally a member of parliament and chairman of the West Africa Caucus on the Pan-African Parliament in Pretoria.
With a historical past of political stability, Ghana’s two predominant events, the ruling NPP and the NDC, have alternated in energy equally for the reason that return to multi-party democracy in 1992.
The nation of 33 million folks is Africa’s prime gold exporter and the world’s second-largest cocoa producer.
