John Mahama sworn in as Ghana’s president, promises to ‘reset’ the country

At a ceremony in Accra, with about 20 African leaders present, John Mahama sworn in as the president of Ghana for a second term.

In the presidential election held on December 9, Mahama defeated vice president Mahamudu Bawumia to win 41% of the vote.

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.

A sea of elated faces waved Ghanaian and NDC flags, chanted, and began to dance incognito 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 is “awesome,” and this represents the start 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.

The farmer said, “Coming here to Accra for this historic event is a dream come true,” adding that Mahama’s “leadership gives me hope that my children’s future will be better.”

Mahama, a writer and fan of Afrobeat music, said that his childhood experiences during the 1966 military coup had altered him as a result of his writing and devotion to the genre.

His home, the only one in the village with a diesel generator, was born in northern Ghana as a child of privilege.

His father, who served as a junior government minister, was briefly detained and interrogated by the 1966 coup leaders but later released unharmed.

Mahama served as the president of the West Africa Caucus at the Pretoria Pan-African Parliament as well as a member of parliament.

With a history of political stability, Ghana’s two main parties, the ruling NPP and the NDC, have alternated in power equally since the return to multi-party democracy in 1992.