8 January 2009
The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor J. E. A. Mills yesterday took the oath of office, which was administered by the Chief Justice, Justice Georgina Wood, to become the third President under the fourth Republican constitution.
Professor Mills won the December 28 presidential run off with a slight margin.
His inauguration, which was attended by several Heads of State and an army of party supporters, came with a number of incidents. First, the new President nearly fell when he was moving to the podium to take the oath of office. But for the alertness of his security men, the law Professor would have been sprawling on the ground, after he apparently stepped on the cloth he had put on.
The next incident was the inability of the new President to hear accurately the oath, which was being read to him by the CJ. Again, his security men had to come in to assist him decode the message.
Delivering his extempore acceptance speech later, President Mills assured Ghanaians of absolute security in the country and urged them not to entertain any fear of armed-robbery.
According to him, his administration would place priority in the improvement of the internal security of the country." No Ghanaian should live in fear of armed-robbery, because improvement in the internal security will be top priority on my agenda," he said.
At the historic inaugural ceremony yesterday, where the former President, Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor handed over executive powers to him, President Mills, dressed in rich kente cloth, stated that his regime would not encourage witch hunting and political vendetta.
He said, though the regime will appropriately use the rule of law, it would be done in a free and fair manner and listen attentively to Ghanaians. "We shall ensure that we listen to the people. There will be no room for political vendetta and witch hunting," he said, adding that "there is no NDC Ghana or NPP Ghana, but there is one Ghana."
Prof. Mills reiterated his position that he would be father of the nation and not for members of his party alone, and urged the people of Ghana to support him. He added that social justice, equity and fairness would be his hallmark.
"We are one people with a common destiny. There is nothing that we cannot do if we remain united," he said. He also assured the business communities of his preparedness to help them boost their businesses.
The event, which started late, had in attendance some religious and traditional leaders and members of the diplomatic corps among other dignitaries. Prof. Mills tasked all Ghanaians to support him for the development of a better Ghana. He congratulated his competitors, especially the Presidential candidate of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for giving him a good run for his money.
He used the opportunity to appeal to Ghanaians to come together to ensure development, stressing that "We shall succeed, there is nothing that we cannot do if we remain united."
The ceremony, which took place at the Independence Square in Accra, was also attended by flagbearers who contested the December elections, including Nana Akufo Addo and Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom. Also present was former president Rawlings, who received a lot cheers, upon his arrival with his wife.
Botched protocol
Meanwhile, many of the people who attended the swearing in ceremony have expressed concern over the breach of protocol arrangement. For many of those present, the protocol arrangement was nothing worth writing home about, since it was botched, with a lot of security lapses.
For the first time in the history books of the country, the national anthem could not be played and the Ghana Armed Forces could not do their usual marching parade, due to the heavy crowd presence that invaded the grounds.
The haphazard nature of the arrangement of the seats, coupled with the infiltration of spectators onto the grounds, compelled some high profile personalities, including the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Members of Parliament to abandon their vehicles and walk to their seats.
When the programme came to a climax, most of the legislators had to leave the ceremony because they could not see what was happening on the dais.
Though noted for his time consciousnesses, President Atta Mills arrived at the venue of the event quite late, because he was caught up in the human traffic which the security agencies could not control.
For close to two hours, Mills' security details were struggling to pave way for him to arrive at the grounds for the official ceremony to kick-start.
The situation delayed the programme for about three hours, which was originally scheduled to commence at 12:30pm. Prevailing conditions compelled Members of Parliament to walk from the Independence Square to Parliament House. The security was initially tight, but in the middle of the programme it slackened.
Matters got out of hand when former President Rawlings arrived at the event venue at 2pm. The crowd went haywire upon seeing him alight from his vehicle to exchange pleasantries with some high profile personalities.
Although he was being directed to his seat, he abandoned protocol directives for some minutes to respond to cheers from the crowd and later returned to shake the hands of the dignitaries on the dais, including former President Kufuor. The situation saw many photo-journalists running to get snap shots, thereby breaching security arrangements.
Scores of Ghanaians from all walks of life were at the Independence Square to witness President Mills' swearing-in ceremony. The spectators were mainly clad in NDC paraphernalia.
Some of the foreign dignitaries who were present included the President of Burkina Faso -Blaise Campaore, the President of Cote D'Voire -Laurent Gbagbo, President of Senegal -Abdulai Wade and the President of Sierra Leone -Ernest Bai Koroma.
Others present were the vice President of Liberia -Joseph Boakai, vice President of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) -Jean-Pierre Bemba, the vice President of Libya -Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Mr. Kofi Annan -former UN Secretary, Dr. Ibn Chambas -ECOWAS President and the vice President of Guinea among a host of others.
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