Ghana's new leader takes office

John Atta Mills has been sworn in as Ghana's new president following a cliff-hanger election victory. Mr Atta Mills, 64, took his oath of allegiance in front of thousands of people in Independence Square for the inauguration in the capital, Accra. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate beat the ruling party's Nana Akufo-Addo in a hotly contested poll by a margin of less than 0.5% of votes.

President John Kufuor has stood down after serving the maximum two terms.
He is the second elected head of state in Ghana's history to hand over to an opposition politician.
Loud cheers .

The BBC's Will Ross in the Accra says there is a carnival atmosphere in the capital. Crowds began forming at the stadium before dawn - decked out in the national colours of green, yellow, red and black - amid an air of intense excitement after one of the closest election races in Africa's recent history. Mr Atta Mills was dressed in a local kente cloth woven in the national colours, Reuters news agency reports.

After he was sworn in, he raised up the State Sword - representing government authority - to cheers from the crowd, the agency said. A military unit then fired off a booming 21-gun salute.
"It is a dawn of a new era for Ghana and I hope to tap the experiences of the two former presidents... to build a better Ghana," AFP news agency quotes Mr Ata Mills as saying in his first address as president, referring to Mr Kufuor and his predecessor, Jerry Rawlings.
There were loud cheers when he thanked the man he narrowly beat in the election.

"During the elections Ghana's democracy was stretched to the limits but at the end of the day the sovereign will of the people prevailed," he said. Our reporter says the fact that Mr Akufo-Addo attended the inauguration is a sign that Ghana has a relatively mature democracy and is a long way ahead of many other African countries.

Several foreign dignitaries attended the ceremony, including several heads of state from the region. At times the police and army have had trouble keeping the crowd back so enthusiastic were they to see this change of power.

Good example
On the eve of the inauguration, Mr Kufuor showed his successor around his new home, the presidential residence officially known as Jubilee House.

Ghana's new leader, who had lost two previous elections to Mr Kufuor, has pledged to be "a president for all". Mr Akufo-Addo won the first round but not by enough to avoid a run-off in last month's knife-edge polls.

Mr Atta Mills was finally declared the winner on Saturday after a re-run of voting in the rural constituency of Tain, which was boycotted by the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Our reporter says there may only be one side celebrating at the inauguration, but many Ghanaians of whatever political persuasion are proud that the country is setting a good example.

Despite allegations of multiple voting and intimidation from both sides, electoral officials found no evidence of foul play and monitors gave Ghana's poll a clean bill of health. One of Mr Kufuor's last acts as president was to intervene and persuade the governing party to accept defeat, a move which helped ensure that Ghana's election did not descend from acrimony into violence, our correspondent says.

The stakes were raised further in the election by Ghana's recent discovery of crude oil, with production due to start in late 2010. Turnout was high for the West African country's fifth set of polls since it embraced multi-party democracy in 1992. The former British colony was the first African state to gain its independence in 1957. A nation of 22 million people, it is the world's second biggest cocoa grower and Africa's number two gold miner.

Source:BBC

Ghana's new president seeks unity, economic growth

Ghana's new president, John Atta Mills, said on Wednesday he will promote business and economic growth and pursue national reconciliation after a close and divisive election. Following are key quotes from Mills's speech on taking office after elections in which his center-left National Democratic Congress (NDC) wrested power from the right-of-center New Patriotic Party (NNP) of outgoing President John Kufuor.

ECONOMY & TRADE
"I want to assure the business community that we mean well, and on the local front we intend to resuscitate local businesses hand in hand with foreign ones. However, we will not allow local products to suffer unfair competition from cheap imports. My government will work hard to accelerate the process toward accelerated development."

JOB CREATION, GOOD GOVERNANCE & GROWTH
"Our success or failure in government should be measured by the extent to which we achieve these goals."

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
"We will be active on the international front, especially in the African Union, to participate in efforts in forging unity on the continent."

NATIONAL RECONCILIATION
"This is the dawn of a new era for change, for a better Ghana. But it will not be a change for the sake of change, it will be a change in a new direction to improve the livelihoods of our people. We intend to pursue a consensus-building agenda and my government will give due recognition to everybody including my compatriots in the minority parties. I will be president for all Ghanaians, whether they voted for me or not. I will heal wounds to ensure unity among our people. No Ghanaians should live in fear of armed robbery, so protection of our people will be one of our priorities. We will ensure that we listen to the people and address their concerns. There will be no room for political vendettas, and there will be no room for witchhunting, but we will make sure justice is administered.

"The elections are behind us, and now there is no NDC Ghana and there is no NPP Ghana. We are one people with a common destiny."
"I want to urge all Ghanaians to respond to the call to be part of this new era."

Source:reuters

Manifesto for a Better Ghana:Overview

The National Democratic Congress has noted the numerous requests for information about its Manifesto, which charts the path for building a better Ghana. In view of the fact that we have not as yet officially launched our Manifesto we will not be in a position to release the full document to the media and general public for their attention and information, however we have decided to release a summary which contains the major points of action for an NDC Government to get Ghana back on track.

We are therefore making available to the public online the Highlights of the NDC’s Manifesto developed under the theme “Building a Better Ghana”, where we elaborate on our key themes of investing in people, jobs and the economy and ensuring a transparent and accountable government.

Please note that the actual Manifesto Document will provide more detail on these key themes and the actions of an NDC Government, this document now being released, is an overview, which will give the media and the public more insight of what is yet to come.

The full version of the NDC Manifesto will be made available on Professor Mills’s website and the NDC’s official website shortly. We invite you to study the summary of our plans for building a better Ghana.

Thank you for your attention.
( For the highlight document, please click here on the pdf icon below. You will need a Adobe pdf reader)

http://www.attamills2008.com/site/wp-content/uploads/ndc_manifesto_overview.pdf

NDC – UK & Ireland congratulates Mills

The United Kingdom & Ireland Branch of the National Democratic Congress congratulates Professor John Evans Atta-Mills, on his election as the President and Supreme Commander of the 4th Republic of Ghana.

We are delighted that Professor John Evans Atta-Mills and his running mate, Hon. John Dramani Mahama’s many years of devoted service to the course and development of our dear country Ghana should at last be recognised in this way by the very good people of Ghana.

We know that the growth and success of Ghana is largely dependent on the vision, dedication and the most affable politicians with unblemished reputation both in private and public life. Professor Atta-Mill & John Mahama have the above qualities to take our country to the next level.

We will also like to call upon Nana Akuffo Addo and his NPP supporters to put behind their disappointment, as true patriots of our dear country, so that Ghana can move forward together as a united Nation.

On behalf of the NDC, we will also like to thank all the media Houses in the diaspora, who did their best to ensure that the NDC message of hope was objectively disseminated to the world at large.

The UK and Ireland Branch of the NDC would like to offer our warm congratulations and join the good people of Ghana in wishing Professor Attah-Mills, Hon. John Mahama and the NDC Team a success in their new administration.

Long Live NDC! Long Live Ghana!

NDC – UK & Ireland Branch

Source:NDC – UK & Ireland

NDC UK & Ireland Branch congratulates newly elected parliamentarians

The members of the UK & Ireland Branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would like to convey their warm congratulations to all the Party's newly elected Parliamentarians.

We are delighted that the many years of hard and dedicated work for the course for which the NDC had modestly stood for should be rewarded with your election to the National Parliament of the fourth Republic of Ghana.As parliamentarians, the future growth and development of our country largely depend on having strong and capable people like you.

The Ghanaian electorates have placed their faith and trust in you and have massively rejected the corrupt NPP administration.We hope that you will remain above reproach, loyal and focused in your work as lawmakers to help Ghana achieve a just and a social democratic society, which has eluded the ordinary Ghanaian for far too long.We call on all members of the NDC and sympathisers to rally behind Professor John Evans Atta-Mills as he gears up for the second round of the presidential elections.

We urge all Ghanaians to vote massively for Professor Atta-Mills on December 28. Vote Atta-Mills as President for a Better Ghana.Long live the NDC! Long Live Ghana!!

Source:ModernGhana

Opposition candidate wins Ghana presidential election

Opposition candidate John Evans Atta Mills has narrowly won Ghana's presidential election, the Ghana Electoral Commission said on its Web site. John Atta Mills, left, of the opposition NDC has defeated Nana Akufo-Addo, right, of the ruling NPP in the runoff.

The chairman of the Ghana Electoral Commission, Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, said Mills had garnered about 4,521,032 votes, or about 50.2 percent of the total votes cast. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, of the incumbent New Patriotic Party, won about 49.77 percent of the total valid votes cast, Afari-Gyan said, according to the commission's Web site. The two men led a field of eight candidates in the December 7 general election, but neither secured a majority of the votes. Akufo-Addo had held a slight lead in that vote.

The runoff election was so close that it could not be decided until the last of the 230 constituencies, the Tain constituency, voted on Friday. "On the basis of the official results given, the results of the run-off election in the Tain constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, which was held on the 2nd January 2009, it is my duty to declare Professor John Evans Atta Mills the President-elect of Ghana," Afari-Gyan said, according to the government's Web site.
Both parties had alleged irregularities in voting in the Ashanti region and Volta regions, but Afari-Gyan said the commission did not find evidence in "purely electoral matters" that invalidated the results.

Mills, 64, will replace John Agyekum Kufuor as Ghana's president on January 7. Kufuor is stepping down after serving two four-year terms, the maximum allowed. Mills is a law professor who served as vice president from 1997 to 2000 under Jerry Rawlings. He lost to Kufuor in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Ghana, a country about the size of England, is the world's second-biggest cocoa and gold producer. In 2007, leaders announced the discovery of oil off its shore.The world recession, however, has hindered growth. Ghana has seen a decline in its exports and will not tap into its oil resources until 2010.

Part of a former British colony, Ghana was among the first African countries to gain independence in 1957. It endured a series of coups before military dictator Rawlings took power in 1981. A decade later, Rawlings led the country through the transition to a stable democracy with multi-party elections.

Source:CNN