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John Mahama has taken the oath of office as Ghana’s new president in a ceremony attended by world leaders.
The Eastern Updates reports that the former President was declared winner of the 2024 presidential election on December 8th after defeating his main opponent, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
Mahama, who served as Ghana’s 12th President between 2011 and 2017, found his way back to power through re-election.
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The Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, had on Monday departed Lagos to attend the inauguration.
The event is currently taking place in Accra, the capital of the Republic of Ghana.
Mahama takes over from outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo, who served two terms in power.
“Today should mark the opportunity to reset our country,” the 66-year-old new president, wearing the West African country’s national dress, told a jubilant crowd decked in the green, red, black and white hues of his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party on Tuesday.
Energy radiated from Accra’s Black Star Square, 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.
Among those present were Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Burkina Faso’s leader 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 first woman to become vice president in Ghana.
Mahama’s return to the presidency ends eight years in power for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) under President Nana Akufo-Addo, whose last term was marked by Ghana’s worst economic turmoil in years, a bailout by the International Monetary Fund, and a debt default.
Mahama, who led Ghana from 2012 to early 2017, had previously failed twice to win back the presidency. But in December’s election, he managed to tap into expectations of change among Ghanaians.
On Black Star Square, supporters of the elected leader exuded joy, hope and optimism.
“I’ve never been so proud to be Ghanaian,” Akosua Nyarko, 28, a teacher from the southern city of Cape Coast, told the AFP news agency. “The energy here is amazing … This is the dawn of a new era!”
Mohammed Abubakar, a 50-year-old farmer from Tamale in northern Ghana, said he was confident Mahama would prioritise rural development.
