African Elections Project (Accra)
7 January 2009
Professor John Atta Mills has sworn the oath office as the 3rd President of the 4th Republic at a colorful and well attended ceremony in Accra. The ceremony took place at the Independence Square, which was turned into an open air Parliament. The function was attended by thousands of people from all walks of life.
Wearing a rich kente cloth with a jumper underneath, he took the Presidential Oath and the Oath of Allegiance administered by the Chief Justice, Mrs. Justice Georgina Wood. He swore on the Bible.
Vice President John Dramani Mahama, dressed in white flowing agbada, also took the oath of office. He took the oath of the Vice President and the Oath of Allegiance. He also swore on the Bible. They then signed the oaths they swore
During his inaugural speech,the new president of Ghana expressed his sincere appreciation to all persons gathered at the ceremony and acknowledged the presence of the two former heads of state, John Kufour and John Jerry Rawlings.
He said his government will bring about change in a new direction using a consensus driven agenda. He emphasized the fact that he is going to be a president for all Ghanaians irrespective of their political affiliation. Adding his government will hit the ground running.
Several West African Heads of State and dignitaries from several countries also attended the swearing-in.
The top list of invited guests included limited to President Bi Koroma of Sierra Leone, Gunichiro Koizumi, former Prime Minister of Japan, the Chairman of Africa Union Commission, Jian Ping, as well as delegation from Morocco, the US and Canada.
Also present at the ceremony were Heads of State of Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria as well as the Prime Minister of Niger and Vice President of Liberia.
The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2008 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is also present at the Independence square to witness the ceremony.
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Nigeria may be large in size and population and a wealthy nation but she is still a junior brother of Ghana.
First Ghana achieved her political independence in 1953 and Nigeria had to wait till 1960 because the North was not ready. Second Ghana had always led in all spheres of human endeavors from sports to politics. Yes, Ghana suffered a major economic set in the 80's but she learned her lesson and has turned out to be one of Africa's economic power houses.
Today Ghana has done it again to be the first Black African nation to witness a ruling party supervises its own defeat. From where I live in domicile exile it is known as free and fair election. I was very impressed that the Nigeria entourage led by her President Mr. Musa Yar'Adua did not have to travel too far to the US to take a lesson on smooth transition.
I wish Nigeria would borrow a lesson from this page but what bothers me and should bother every right thinking Nigerian is that our leaders do not learn from their mistakes.
Ojo Maduekwe stole the day when he indirectly admonished his party that it is okay to accept defeat with grace than rig the election. The performance of President Kufo the former President of Ghana is a text book case that should be studied by African political scholars.
Nigeria may be large in size and population and a wealthy nation but she is still a junior brother of Ghana.
First Ghana achieved her political independence in 1957 and Nigeria had to wait till 1960 because the North was not ready. Second Ghana had always led in all spheres of human endeavors from sports to politics. Yes, Ghana suffered a major economic set in the 80's but she learned her lesson and has turned out to be one of Africa's economic power houses.
Today Ghana has done it again to be the first Black African nation to witness a ruling party supervises its own defeat. From where I live in domicile exile it is known as free and fair election. I was very impressed that the Nigeria entourage led by her President Mr. Musa Yar'Adua did not have to travel too far to the US to take a lesson on smooth transition.
I wish Nigeria would borrow a lesson from this page but what bothers me and should bother every right thinking Nigerian is that our leaders do not learn from their mistakes.
Ojo Maduekwe stole the day when he indirectly admonished his party that it is okay to accept defeat with grace than rig the election. The performance of President Kufo the former President of Ghana is a text book case that should be studied by African political scholars.
" .. but she learned her lesson .. "
But did not learn the fundamental one well enough.
Did you notice that Mills was swearing on the foreign slave-trader's manifesto called 'bible' - the manifesto of those who raped and tortured and killed their ancestors?
- would he strive to be a good leader without the foreigners? Were there good leaders and thriving kingdoms in the land before the white killers arrived with their propaganda manifesto? Were these ancestral leaders sworn to upholding law and order and mindful of the happiness of their citizens? Does Mills contend that because they did not have a 'bible' therefore they were evil, failed leaders?
- does Mills contend that our ancestors who had no 'bible' were not meek or peace-loving or merciful - and that those with the bible are full of those virtues? Were our ancestors lacking in integrity or fidelity? Why should he tie the native to a foreigner's 'bible'?
- The land of Ghana was blessed with the people's myth, and the people's religion and the people's deities. And the lands thrived - until the foreigners arrived with guns and malice - spewing dislocation, pestilences, starvation, death and destruction. And they held the ancestors in bondage.
Mills honors them.
.
Over 25% of the population hold fast onto their ancestors' myth and BELIEVE in their deities - just as the foreigners hold fast onto their myth and BELIEVE in their deities.
One is not required to verify a BELIEF with empirical evidence. No analysis and proofs required - for they are myths. Thus, the well-educated as well as the less-educated are just as welcome within a belief system.
So the native's belief in the African deities is just as respectable and becoming and hip as Mill's belief in a foreigner's deity. So Mills is welcome to believe in Ghana's ancestral deities. But Mills clings to foreigner's myth - those who would harm the native.
Are African deities - that sustained Africans through the millennia - good enough for Mills? Does Mills respect and honor for our ancestors?
Or is Mills afraid that the foreigners will mount a "regime change" should Mills show a self-awareness and a hint that the colonial conditioning (of inferiority complex) is wearing off?
Mills is dismissive of our traditions. Mills alienates and denigrates the spirits of our ancestors. Mills scorns the African as surely as the colonial plunderers did - with lofty rhetoric covering crass hypocrisy and self-aggrandizement.
Is the heathen Mills (who promotes foreigners and the foreign way of life and believes that THAT of Mother Africa is not good enough) appropriate for Ghana?
.."Did you notice that Mills was swearing on the foreign slave-trader's manifesto called 'bible.. It is a catch 22 because in whatever way he was sworn in, be it with the Koran, Bible or the Traditional way someone would still have something to say. So damn he does and damn he doesn’t
Let us bring the issues where they belong and the issue here is about a smooth transition of power ever witnessed in Africa. It was made possible because the party in power was able to supervise its failure without rancor. How did it happen? It was made possible because of the level of maturity showed by the Ghanaians to obey their election laws without rigging to the election.
No matter how you see it Ghanaians deserve some kudos and kudos they got from all people of good will. The same way they learn their economic lesson is the same way Nigeria should learn both economic and political lessons.
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