<<Print>>

President John Dramani Mahama assumed office today, Monday January 7, as the fourth President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana at a colourful coronation held at the Black Star Square after taking both the Presidential Oath and Oath of Office. Remarkably, President Mahama handed over the sword of office to himself as he assumed the mantle of leadership to finish the third Presidency of the late President John Evans Atta Mills on July 24, 2012. President Mahama and Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur took the oath of office administered by the Chief Justice, Mrs Theodora Georgina Wood before an open Parliament at the Independence Square in Accra, and in the presence of a new Parliament and its new Speaker. Apart from the Independent Square, the venue for the programme, which was draped in the national colours, telephone and electricity poles and trees along the streets leading to the venue were also adorned in the national colours of red, gold and green. The Independent Arch was not left out of the national beautification exercise. A large contingent of Ghanaians and other nationals witnessed the historic event at the Square, whilst millions more across the world watched the inaugural ceremony on television. Present at the function were foreign heads of state, heads of delegations, the diplomatic community in Ghana and other very important personalities. In 2005, seven African Presidents and a host of Heads of State and Government from Africa and across the globe attended the swearing-in ceremony of former President Kufuor. In 2009, seven African Presidents, three Prime Ministers and two Vice-Presidents were at the swearing-in of the late President Mills, whose mantle the President elect took before being declared winner of the 2012 elections. Notwithstanding the decision of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to boycott the ceremony, in line with its challenge of the presidential election results, former President John Agyekum Kufuor was among the many dignitaries, including former President J.J. Rawlings, the Founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), that graced the occasion. President Mahama thus becomes Ghana�s seventh democratically elected leader after independence and the second Vice-President, after the late President John Evans Atta Mills, to be elected President in the country�s nearly 56-year history. The President-elect is also the fourth former parliamentarian to lead the country, after Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Prof K.A. Busia and Mr J.A. Kufuor. Besides that, he also becomes the fourth person with the name John to lead the country since 1992. Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings ascribed as the first �John,� ruled as a democratically-elected President from January 7, 1993 to January 6, 2001; Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor endorsed as the second �John,� from January 7, 2001 to January 6, 2009; and the late Professor John Evans Atta Mills, the third �John,� from January 7, 2009 to July 24, 2012.