Sierra Leone Telegraph: 09 January 2021:
Last Thursday, President Dr Julius Maada Bio joined colleagues Heads of states at the swearing-in ceremony of the President-elect of the Republic of Ghana Nana Dankwa Addo Akufo-Addo.
Taking his oath of office, President Akufo-Addo said: “I further solemnly swear that should I at any time break this oath of office I shall submit myself to the laws of the Republic of Ghana and suffer the penalty for it. So, help me God.”
He thanked his colleagues Heads of States for their attendance, which he referred to as an expression of solidarity.
Akufo-Addo called on the people of Ghana to participate in governance as citizens and not as spectators. The President also laid out his vision and priorities for his second term in office.
Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, administered the oath of office to the President and Vice President Alhaji Dr Muhamadu Bawumia.
The swearing-in ceremony marked the start of the second term into office of President Akufo-Addo, following the declaration by the Ghana Electoral Commission as winner of the presidential election which took place on Monday 7 December 2020.
While president Nana Akufo-Addo take his oath of office after his re-election, there is the risk his administration will be governing with a hung parliament in which neither of the two major parties have an overall majority in the 275 seats parliament. The last time Ghana was placed in such conundrum was in 1979, when president Hilla Limann’s people’s National party won 71 seats out of the 140 seats parliament back then. As a result of his reform programmes which Ghana’s economy was in dire need suffered hugely, due to parliamentary squabbles. It lasted until Flight lieutenant, John Jerry Rawlings stepped in the December 1981 coup.
Nana Akufo-Addo of the New patriotic Party will be faced with such daunting prospect since the opposition National Democratic Congress led by the former president John Dramani Mahama, has not conceded to his win. John Dramani Mahama is not happy with his 47.37% as opposed to the 51.59% share of the vote for the current president. Instead of conceding defeat, he planned to challenge the results to the Ghanaian supreme court. The main challenges facing the new government, is COVID19 and Corruption. We Sierra Leoneans are no strangers to that phenomenon. Effectively, we and Ghanaians are in the same boat, in the choppy waters of corruption.