John Mahama Takes Oath As Ghana's President Amid Severe Economic Crisis

John Dramani Mahama

7 January 2025

Radio France Internationale

The new Ghanaian president, John Mahama, is being sworn in this Tuesday, 7 January, in Accra, as the nation looks for solutions to its worst economic crisis in a generation.

He takes office as the country faces a deep economic crisis.

Mahama has already promised to find sustainable solutions to Ghana's financial turmoil, to fight corruption, to improve its energy supply, and to manage the regular power outages from which the country suffers.

"We're facing a critical situation in the energy sector," Mahama said. "The electricity company of Ghana is the 'sick man' of the whole value chain and we need to quickly fix it."

The new president also started working on reinforcing Ghana's partnership with other stable African nations, travelling to Kenya just before the end of the year to meet President William Ruto.

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Mahama is Ghana's main opposition figure and tried twice before to win back the country's top post.

As the leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, he defeated Mahamudu Bawumia, who represented the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), in elections on 7 December.

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Ghana's parliament passed a provisional budget mid-December, which allows the government to spend 68.1 billion Ghanaian cedis (€4.2 billion) through March, narrowly averting an unprecedented government shutdown.

Parliamentary speaker Alban Bagbin said the parliament had approved the provisional budget in a sitting that stretched deep into the night.

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Promises to fight corruption

Mahama recently appointed an anti-corruption task force, as he had promised in his campaign programme, to tackle graft and reclaim misappropriated state funds.

The five-member group will try to recover all the public funds embezzled along with the proceeds of corruption in the West African country in recent years. During his campaign, Mahama said that unchecked procurement processes are one of the main problems in this respect.

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Emmanuel Wilson Junior, an anti-graft advocate and lawyer with the organisation Crusaders Against Corruption, hailed the initiative and urged the incoming administration to act swiftly.

"This is a step in the right direction. Ghanaians are tired of corruption being swept under the carpet. We expect this team to be proactive and ensure real accountability," Wilson told French news agency AFP.

Finally, Mahama and his government should also seize the opportunity to ensure the promotion and protection of human rights, the NGO Amnesty International said a statement.

These issues include gender equality and women's rights, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and the right to a healthy environment for everyone in the country, Amnesty said Monday.

(with newswires)

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