ACCRA, Jan 7 (Futball Surgery)- John Dramani Mahama has been sworn in as president of Ghana on Tuesday, marking the 66-year old’s return to presidency after 8-year period occupied by Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) administration.
Mahama returns for two non-consecutive terms since his first full term between 2012 to 2017.
Mahama constest and won the presidential position in the name of National Democratic Congress (NDC) party in Ghana’s 2024 December presidential polls beating outgoing NPP’s candidate Mahamudu Bawumia by huge margin.
Mahama replaces Akufo-Addo on the throne as the later’s downfall in the December 2024 general elections was mainly due to Akufo-Addo government’s inability to deal with the country’s economic crisis- that is on record as the worst in a generation.
But the new president gave lines of hope for the fallen economy in his speech at the inuagration that took place in the capital Accra, at the Independence Square.
“We are a people battered by economic crises and hardships. But there’s hope on the horizon,” Mahama said in a speech to cheers from thousands of boisterous supporters.
Ghana, just like some countries in Europe, is recovering from the draining impacts of Covid-19 pandemic, and International Monetary Fund debut program.
Mahama is under pressure the success with campaign promises to tackle some of the pressing problems like youth unemployment and corruption- that is ruining the country’s democracy.
“The average Ghanaian is growing impatient with our democracy,” Godfred Bokpin, a finance professor at the University of Ghana, told Reuters.
“People have done their part by voting but they’re asking: what have they gotten from this democracy?”
Mahama in his speech said his new economic model would focus on agriculture and agribusiness, and would provide jobs for young people, stimulate local industry and attract foreign investment.
Ghana analysts and Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) party supporters see his two-thirds majority in parliament as a strong mandate to take tough decisions and implement credible policies to improve livelihoods and regain investor confidence.
Mahama’s administration faces immediate risks from issues such as high inflation that increased for the third month in a row in November to 23.0%, influenced by surges in food prices, according to Reuters.
Other risks are electricity power crisis and exchange rate.
More than 20 presidents and heads of state from around the world attended the ceremony, in which former Education minister Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, was first sworn in as Vice President.
