President Mills — Moving Ghana forward

Saturday, January 10, 2009 (The Mirror Pg 3)

By Rebecca Kwei
ON a bright Wednesday (January 7) morning at the Independence Square in Accra, thousands of Ghanaians waited anxiously for the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Professor John Evans Atta Mills.
Although the programme had been slated for 11 a.m. many Ghanaians had thronged the Independence Square as early as 2am perhaps to get a good place to sit and watch proceedings.
However, the enthusiastic crowd had to wait patiently as Heads of State, other dignitaries, and special guests filed in one after the other from 12 noon.
Then at 2.35pm Professor John Evans Atta Mills was sworn in as the new President of Ghana.
Dressed in rich Kente, the President took the oath of allegiance in front of thousands of Ghanaians. It was administered by the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood.
After signing the parliamentary album, Prof. Mills raised the State Sword to symbolise his authority as President, amid cheers from the enthusiastic crowd.
Speaking shortly after he had been sworn in, Prof. Mills said it was a new dawn of a new era of change for a better Ghana.
He said it was not a change for the sake of change but “change in the right direction to move the nation forward”.
Prof. Mills said his administration would pursue a consensus-driven agenda and that he would be a President for all Ghanaians irrespective of political persuasion and which part of the country one came from.
“I will heal wounds and strive to ensure unity of the country,” he said. Touching on security, he said improvement in internal security would be top priority and that no Ghanaian should live in fear of armed robbery.
He assured Ghanaians that his administration would not pursue politics of power and privilege but would ensure that they listen to people and address the concerns of the people.
He said he would immediately hit the road running and that there would be no time for witch-hunting and vendetta.
In the same vein, he said his administration would work on the principles of accountability and justice would be administered irrespective of one’s status.
He reiterated that the elections were over and there was no NDC Ghana or NPP Ghana adding that “we are one people with one destiny”.
He said the NDC was voted into power on four pillars of wealth creation, investing in people, improvement in infrastructure and an open and honest government, on which the success or failure of his government should be measured.
On the business front, he assured the business community that he would resuscitate local industries to go hand in hand with foreign ones and that local industries would not suffer unfair advantage to cheap foreign imports.
With his right hand raised, he said, “Let’s respond to the call to help put Ghana on her feet. With the help of the Almighty we shall succeed. There is nothing we can’t do if we are united.”