President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Vice, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia were yesterday worn in for a second four-year term in office.
Several African heads of state and representatives of many developed countries graced the ceremony, which took place at the forecourt of Ghana’s Parliament in the national capital, Accra.
Chief Justice Anin Yeboah first administered the Oath of Office of Vice-President to Dr Bawumia and then administered the Oath of office of President to Nana Akufo-Addo.
Out of the 13,119,460 total valid votes cast in the 2020 general election, President Akufo-Addo of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) polled 6,730,587 votes, representing 51.302 per cent.
Former President John Mahama of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), who was his closest contender, polled 6,213,182 votes, representing 47.359 per cent.
However, Mr Mahama and the NDC have rejected the presidential results and the former President has filed a petition at the Supreme Court, asking for re-run of the polls.
He described the results as a “fictionalised” from a “flawed” election even though local and international observer groups, media organisations have pronounced the polls as free, fair and transparent.
Consequently, NDC has held several demonstrations across the country to drum home its claim that the election was flawed and skewed in favour of President Akufo-Addo and the NPP.
Some of the demonstrations have been violent with burning of car tyres on the streets.
Akufo-Addo grateful
In the last State of the Nation Address (SoNA) of his first term on January 5, 2021 ahead of the dissolution of the seventh Parliament, President Akufo-Addo thanked Ghanaians for giving him a clear mandate for four more years in office.
“I am thankful to the Ghanaian people and to the Almighty that I have been given a clear mandate to govern the country for four more years, and, thereby, given the opportunity to complete tasks, consolidate some of the far-reaching measures we have introduced, and initiate further changes and adjustments to policies and practices.
“The Constitution demands that we go to the people after four years to ask for a mandate, and we must listen to the voice of the people. I said during the election campaign, and it is my firm and passionate view, that I should only be President in a fairly conducted election, which I believe, in all sincerity, the election of 7th December was.
“I recognise that my main opponent in the election, former President John Mahama, has gone to the Supreme Court to seek its intervention, and grant reliefs that, he believes, were compromised in the conduct of the elections. It is good for the nation that, in the end, he chose the legal path, instead of the pockets of violence that have attended the rejection of the results by his party in the period after the elections. We all have to make a deliberate decision to invest in the rule of law and uphold the integrity of the institutions of state, so that no person or group of persons take the law into their own hands with impunity”.
Ghana is attractive
Ghana, President Akufo-Addo pointed out, remained one of the most attractive destinations on the continent for foreign direct investment with the presence in the country of some of the world’s largest conglomerates attesting to this fact.
He averred that establishing a strong economy, undergoing a structural transformation to value-added activities, which will generate jobs for young people and enhance their living standards, will be the main preoccupation of his second term.
“Together, we are ensuring that the basic tenets of social justice are met. Many said it was beyond us, but we have ensured that financial considerations no longer determine the fate of the Ghanaian child because of the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy, once willing and able, senior high school education is the minimum education to be received by every Ghanaian child.
“Access to quality healthcare is no more a luxury ordinary people cannot afford, following the revival of the National Health Insurance Scheme. Our aim is to reach Universal Health Coverage as soon as possible,” he said.
The President disclosed that food production has increased significantly, and a conscious effort is being made to improve the living standards of the farmers.
According to him, the newly constructed warehouses dotted across the country are storing the surpluses for export to neighbouring states and assured that the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative has become the veritable rock on which the successful future of Ghana’s agriculture is being built.
President Akufo-Addo pledged to do good for all Ghanaians and with the firm foundation laid in his first term of office, his next administration will take a significant step towards reducing the infrastructure deficit that has plagued the nation.
He said there are endless opportunities if Ghanaians remain united and assured that what Ghana’s forbearers dreamed of will be achieved.
