AFRICA: Akufo-Addo sworn in as Ghana president for second term

PRESIDENT Nana Akufo-Addo has been sworn into office for a second four-year term as President of the Republic of Ghana.

The country’s Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah conducted the swearing-in, taking him through the required oaths on Thursday.

Akufo-Addo was given the mandate to govern for the next four years from January 7, 2021, to January 6, 2025, following the declaration by the Electoral Commission (EC) that he was the winner of the presidential election held on Monday, December 7, 2020.

The incumbent who contested the election on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP won with 6,730,413 votes which represent 51.295 percent of the total valid votes cast.

His closest competitor, John Dramani Mahama from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) got 6,214,889 votes representing 47.366 per cent.

The total valid votes cast was 13, 434,574 representing 79 per cent of the total registered voters.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) however rejected the declaration of President Akufo -Addo as the winner of the presidential polls by the EC.

At a press conference in Accra, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, described the declaration by the EC as flawed and one that would not be accepted by the NDC.

“We roundly reject and outrightly reject the declaration of the sitting President as the winner of the 2020 elections”, he said.