Posted by The PM News on
Thousands of Ghanaians and other invited guests have been gathering at Ghana's Independence square in Accra, since 5 a.m., today, 7 January, 2009, to witness the swearing-in ceremony of Professor John Atta Mills, as the third president of the fourth republic.
Thousands of Ghanaians and other invited guests have been gathering at Ghana's Independence square in Accra, since 5 a.m., today, 7 January, 2009, to witness the swearing-in ceremony of Professor John Atta Mills, as the third president of the fourth republic.
The inauguration ceremony is required by the constitution of Ghana before an individual can assume the position of Ghana's head of state and Commander- In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, and it comes at the end of long and gruelling elections which saw the ruling party, New Patriotic Party (NPP), handing power over to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The ceremony will see president John Agyekum Kufour handing the symbol of presidential office (sword) over to Prof. Mills, while the Chief Justice of Ghana, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, administers the presidential oath of office to the incoming president.
The vice- president, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, will also be sworn-in today. Prior to the commencement of the inauguration ceremony, a new parliament and first female speaker in the history of Ghana, Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, a retired Supreme Court Judge, are expected to be sworn into office.
In a related development, six West African Heads of State are expected to attend todays' inauguration of president John Evans Atta Mills. The official delegation for the inauguration, obtained by the Ghana News Agency, listed the Heads of State as Togo, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Benin and Nigeria, whose president, Umaru Yar'Adua, is expected to be the guest speaker.
Other dignitaries expected are the Chairman of the African Commission, Mr Jean Ping; the Liberian Vice-President, Niger Prime Minister, South African Foreign Minister, US Director of Peace Corps, a delegation from Guinea and the governor of Delta state in Nigeria, Emmanuel Uduaghan.