President of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo has promised to "protect and defend"
Ghana's constitution at all times. Akufo-Addo was today sworn in by
Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood after he took the presidential oath
and the oath of secrecy before parliament.
The ceremony was held at the Independence Square and various heads of state and several dignitaries graced it.
In
an address to the nation, the new president congratulated ex-president
John Dramani Mahama for his service to our nation and explained that his
“dignified acceptance of the verdict of the people on 7th December,
2016, will, without doubt, receive the approval of history.”
In
few weeks time, Ghana 60 years and judging from what our forefathers
have done for us, President Nana Akufo Addo believes “we no longer have
any excuses” to be poor.
“I stand here today, humbled beyond
measure for the opportunity to lead this country at this time and take
us to a higher level in our development”, he said.
Full Text below… INAUGURAL
ADDRESS OF HIS EXCELLENCY, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, ON THE OCCASION
OF HIS SWEARING IN AS PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
OF THE GHANA ARMED FORCES.
DATE: 7TH JANUARY, 2017
Mr Speaker,
The
Ghanaian people give thanks to Almighty God for the blessings, favour
and grace He continues to bestow on them. Exactly a month ago, that is
7th December last year, 2016, we, the people of Ghana, in all serenity
and dignity, exercised our democratic franchise freely to elect a
President and Parliament of our Republic. We are met here today to give
effect to the outcome of that exercise.
In accordance with our
republican custom, I, having been declared the winner of the
presidential contest on 9th December, 2016, by the returning officer,
the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, have taken
the oath of the high office of President of the Republic, in the
presence of the newly sworn Vice President, His Excellency Alhaji Dr.
Mahamudu Bawumia, and the newly elected Speaker of Parliament, the Rt.
Hon. Prof. Michael Oquaye, an oath administered by the Chief Justice,
Her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Wood, before the elected representatives
of the people assembled in this 7th Parliament of the 4th Republic. This
is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Our
nation is honoured by the presence, at this solemn ceremony of
investiture, of leaders and representatives of friendly countries across
the globe, in particular those of the sister nations of our regional
body, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and of our
continental body, the African Union. I salute the Chairperson of the
Authority of Heads of State and Governments of the AU, His Excellency
Idriss Déby, President of the Republic of Chad.
I salute the
Chairperson of the Authority of Heads of State and Governments of
ECOWAS, the historic figure, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,
President of the Republic of Liberia; our special guest of honour, His
Excellency Alassane Dramane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Côte
d’Ivoire, and we thank him for his excellent speech; His Excellency
Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of mighty Nigeria;
His Excellency Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal; His
Excellency Faure Gnassingbé, President of the Republic of Togo; His
Excellency Alpha Condé, President of the Republic of Guinea Conakry; His
Excellency Patrice Talon, President of the Republic of Benin; His
Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone;
His Excellency Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of the Republic of
Mali; His Excellency Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Burkina
Faso. We are grateful also for the presence of His Excellency Teodoro
Obiang Nguema, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea; His
Excellency Ali Bongo, President of the Republic of Gabon; and His
Excellency Edgar Lungu, President of the Republic of Zambia. To them and
the representatives of all the other friendly nations who are here, and
former presidents and leaders, I say ‘akwaaba’, our famous word of
welcome.
I have, at the outset, to thank sincerely our departing
President, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, for his service to our
nation. He stepped into the breach of national leadership at a delicate
moment in the country’s history, with the death in office, for the first
time, of a sitting president, the late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills. He
has since steered the ship of state with conviction.
His
elegant, dignified acceptance of the verdict of the people on 7th
December, 2016, will, without doubt, receive the approval of history,
for it has contributed significantly to the process of democratic
consolidation in Ghana. I wish him and his family well.
For
myself, I am in the unique position of being able to draw on the wisdom
and experience of three former Presidents of the Republic, their
Excellencies Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor and John Dramani
Mahama. They represent the continuity of the institutions of our
Republic, for which we thank God.
Mr. Speaker, I am deeply
humbled by the exceptional mandate and extraordinary show of confidence
that the Ghanaian people have conferred on my party, the New Patriotic
Party, and on my modest person. I am determined to do all in my power to
accomplish the tasks of the mandate and justify their confidence. I
will not let you, the people of Ghana, down.
We have a proud
heritage. We are the heirs of John Mensah Sarbah, Joseph Caseley
Hayford, George Pa Grant, R.S. Blay, Joseph Boakye Danquah, Emmanuel
Obetsebi Lamptey, Edward Akufo-Addo, William Ofori-Atta, Cobbina Kesse,
Ernest Ako Adjei, Kwame Nkrumah, Komla Agbeli Gbedema, Kojo Botsio, S.D.
Dombo, Kofi Abrefa Busia, Baffuor Osei Akoto and others, who taught us
that fidelity to principles, courage, patience, resilience and
collective action do yield results.
They fought with
intelligence, guts, steely determination and patriotism to liberate our
land and reclaim our worth as human beings. Their love for country
continues to inspire generations of us to commit our lives to the search
for an enduring democratic legacy for Ghana. It is not for nothing that
when our forebears established the Ghanaian nation, they chose “Freedom
and Justice” as our motto. Our generation has to give meaning to this
motto.
On March 6, in a few weeks’ time, Ghana will attain
60 years as an independent nation. I suspect that those early
nationalists would be disappointed, if they came today and saw the level
of development we have achieved in 60 years of independence.
Our
journey has had some highs and unfortunately many lows. Since we
accepted a consensus on how we should be governed with the onset of the
Fourth Republic, we have performed more creditably. It is within this
period of 24 years that Ghana has witnessed a consistent period of
development.
Sixty years after attaining nationhood, we no
longer have any excuses for being poor. I stand here today, humbled
beyond measure for the opportunity to lead this country at this time and
take us to a higher level in our development.
The words of JB
Danquah, one of the founding fathers of the Ghanaian nation, are
compelling. He said as far back as 1960 that the duty of government
should be “to liberate the energies of the people for the growth of a
property owning democracy in this land, with right to life, freedom and
justice, as the principles to which the government and the laws of the
land should be dedicated in order specifically to enrich life, property
and liberty of each and every citizen.”
We have an exuberant
and young, growing population that wants the best of what the world has
to offer and will not settle for “Third World” or “developing world”
standards. We have an adventurous people who are in a hurry for success.
I have no doubt that the talents, energies, sense of enterprise and
innovation of the Ghanaian can be harnessed to make Ghana the place
where dreams come true.
It took us a while, but the consensus on
multi-party constitutional rule has been established, and, for the third
time, we have had a peaceful transfer of power from a governing party
to an opposition one. We have done it without any fuss and it is now
part of what we do as a people.
Kofi Abrefa Busia, Prime Minister
of the Progress Party government of the 2nd Republic, and one of the
great Ghanaians, said in these eloquent words: “We regard politics as an
avenue of service to our fellow men. We hold that political power is to
be exercised to make life nobler and happier.
Our success or
failure should be judged by the quality of the individual, by his
knowledge, his skills, his behaviour as a member of society, the
standard of living he is able to enjoy and by the degree of harmony and
brotherliness in our community life as a nation.”
We should move
on to deepen our democracy. It is time to make sure that we have a true
separation of powers between the various arms of government. Our
Parliament, the legislative arm of government, must grow into its proper
role as an effective machinery for accountability and oversight of the
Executive, and not be its junior partner.
The Ghanaian
Parliament, the Ghanaian Member of Parliament, must stand out as
institutions that represent all that we hold dear and citizens can take
pride in.
Our judiciary must inspire confidence in the citizens,
so we can all see the courts as the ultimate arbitres when disputes
arise, as they would. A Ghanaian judge must be a reassuring presence and
the epitome of fairness.
We have worked with our national
constitution for 24 years and we now know the areas that require change.
I believe a consensus is emerging that we must decentralize more. We
must devolve more power with corresponding resources to the base of our
political system and to our people, in the regions and communities. We
must trust the individual and collective wisdom and good sense of our
people.
We must restore integrity in public life. State coffers
are not spoils for the party that wins an election, but resources for
the country’s social and economic development. I shall protect the
public purse by insisting on value-for-money in all public transactions.
Public service is just that – service and not an avenue for making
money. Money is to be made in the private sector, not the public.
Measures will be put in place to ensure this.
We must create
wealth and restore happiness to our nation. We can only do this when we
have an educated and skilled population that is capable of competing in
the global economy. We must expand our horizons and embrace science and
technology as critical tools for our development.
We believe
that the business of government is to govern. Ours is to set fair
rules. We will provide vision and direction and shine the light down
the path of our entrepreneurs and farmers. We are, indeed, counting on a
vibrant private sector to drive growth and create jobs.
We
will stimulate the creative juices of innovators. We will bring back to
life the adventurer in you. It is time to imagine and to dream again;
time to try that business idea again. We will reduce taxes to recover
the momentum of our economy. The doors of Ghana are open again. The
shutters are up again. There could not be a better opportunity to “Make
in Ghana”, and to make it in Ghana. GHANA IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS AGAIN!
We will build a confident Ghana which is united, at peace with itself and takes pride in its diversity.
We
will rekindle the spirit that made Ghana the leading light on the
African continent, and make our conditions deserving of that accolade.
We will work with our neighbours and friends on the continent to enhance
peace, democracy and political stability in our part of the world. We
will reassert vigorously the Pan African vocation to which our nation
has been dedicated. Integration of our region and of our continent will
be a strategic objective of Ghanaian policy.
It will not be easy.
We have no illusions whatsoever about the enormity of the task that we
face, but I know that Ghanaians at home and abroad will rise to the
occasion; they always do.
It will require sacrifice, but it can
be done. Others have done it. So can we. Our best days still lie ahead.
Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Ghanaians have
ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people. And we must bring to
our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.
The
Ghanaian people have summoned the change we celebrate today. They have
raised their voices in an unmistakable chorus. They have cast their
votes without equivocation and have forced the change. Now we must do
the work the season demands. To that work, I now turn with all the
authority of my office. I ask the Legislature and Judiciary to join with
me. But no President, no Parliament, no Government can undertake this
mission all by itself.
Fellow citizens, you must be at the
centre of the change. The change we have voted for will have to start
with each of us as individuals. We can start with little changes in our
own individual attitudes and practices. The change can and should start
now and with us as individuals.
I ask you to be citizens:
citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens
building your communities and our nation. Let us work until the work is
done. Holy Scripture in Galatians 6:9 says "Let us not become weary in
doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not
give up."
I assure you, my fellow citizens, who have entrusted
me with this mandate, that I will advance my convictions with civility, I
will serve the public interest with courage, I will speak for greater
justice as well as compassion, and I will call for responsibility and I
will live it, as well.
This is my solemn pledge.
I see
exciting times ahead. The rule of law will be the underlying tenet of
our lives; and the law will be applicable to all of us, and not just
some.
We will have to work hard, harder than we have ever done
before; and the hard work will be done by all of us, and not just some.
There will be discipline in all sectors of our lives; and this applies
to all of us, not just some.
Our public service will be accorded
the dignity and respect it deserves, and be made to attract the bright
young people it needs.
We acknowledge there will always be the
need for a safety net for the vulnerable in our society, as in all other
societies. Our nation will work when the marginalised and vulnerable
are catered for and treated with respect.
Our elderly people will be recognised for their roles in building Ghana and assured of care in the dusk of their lives.
We
should all recognise the danger we face by the alarming degradation of
our environment and work to protect our water bodies, our forests, our
lands and the oceans. We should learn and accept that we do not own the
land, but hold it in trust for generations yet unborn and, therefore,
have a responsibility to take good care of it and all it contains.
Ghana’s
first President, Kwame Nkrumah, Osagyefo, said at the end of 1957, the
year of our independence: “We shall measure our progress by the
happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own
affairs.”
Since March 6, 1957, we all say as a matter of routine
that we are Ghanaians. It is time to define what being a Ghanaian ought
to mean.
Being a Ghanaian must stand for something more than the holder of a birth certificate or a certain passport.
Being a Ghanaian must put certain responsibilities on each one of us.
Calling
yourself a Ghanaian must mean you have signed up to a certain definable
code and conduct. Being a Ghanaian puts an obligation on each one of us
to work at building a fair, prosperous and happy nation.
And calling yourself a Ghanaian must mean we look out for each other.
There should be no higher praise than to be able to say I AM A GHANAIAN.
I
thank the Almighty that I am able to say with pride, I am a Ghanaian. A
new dawn has arisen in Ghana, which will enable us to build a new
Ghanaian civilization which will be the beacon of Africa and the wonder
of the world. I thank you all, my fellow citizens, for making me the
president of this beautiful country.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and
may God bless our homeland Ghana and make her great and strong. And may
God bless us all and Mother Africa.
Some polling station agents of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Kintampo North Constituency of the Brong Ahafo Region, have accused their executives of diverting about GHc 37,100.00 meant for them as allowance for their contribution towards the party’s campaign ahead of the 2016 general elections.
