ACCRA: Ghana on Tuesday swore in president-elect John Mahama in the capital Accra before some 20 regional leaders as he promises to lift the West African gold and cocoa producer out of the doldrums. Mahama won 56 percent of the vote in the nation’s presidential election on December 9, defeating ruling party candidate and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who secured 41 percent.

He takes over from outgoing president Nana Akufo-Addo, who served two terms in power.

“Today should mark the opportunity to reset our country,” the 66-year-old new president, wearing the West African country’s national dress, told a jubilant crowd decked in the green, red, black and white hues of his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party. Energy radiated from Accra’s Black Star Square, as a sea of elate faces waved Ghanaian and NDC flags, chanted and broke into spontaneous dance to the beat of drums and the blaring honk of vuvuzelas.

Among those present were Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Burkina Faso’s leader Ibrahim Traore, Kenyan President William Ruto, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon’s Brice Oligui Nguema. Presidents Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and Mamadi Doumbouya of Guinea as well as former leaders and officials also attended the inauguration. Mahama was sworn in alongside Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the first woman to become vice president in Ghana.

The landslide comeback for former president Mahama ended eight years in power for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) under President Nana Akufo-Addo, whose last term was marked by Ghana’s worst economic turmoil in years, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout and a debt default.

Mahama, who led Ghana from 2012 to early 2017, had previously failed twice to win back the presidency but in December’s election managed to tap into expectations of change among Ghanaians.

On Black Star Square, supporters of the elected leader exuded joy, hope and optimism. “I’ve never been so proud to be Ghanaian,” said Akosua Nyarko, 28, a teacher from the southern city of Cape Coast. “The energy here is amazing... This is the dawn of a new era!”

Mohammed Abubakar, a 50-year-old farmer from Tamale in northern Ghana, said he was confident Mahama would prioritize rural development.

“Coming here to Accra for this historic event is a dream come true,” the farmer said, adding that Mahama’s “leadership gives me hope that my children will have a better future”. Kwame Ansah, a 34-year-old trader from the city of Kumasi in Ghana’s Ashanti region, said he was ready to support Mahama whom he called a “man of the people”.

“I believe he will deliver on his promise to create more jobs and improve healthcare,” Ansah said.

The economy became a major election issue after Ghana defaulted on its debt and entered into a $3-billion deal with the IMF. Ghana has only just begun recovering from its worst economic downturn in years, with inflation peaking at 50 percent in late 2022 -- although it has since fallen to 23 percent.

With a history of political stability, Ghana’s two main parties, the ruling NPP and the NDC, have alternated in power equally since the return to multi-party democracy in 1992. The country of 33 million people is Africa’s top gold exporter and the world’s second cocoa producer. – AFP