 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.
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