Accra, Jan. 7, GNA – Dignitaries from more than 40 countries on Thursday graced the historic inauguration of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at Parliament House in Accra.
Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the Speaker of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, presided over the ceremony.
The list of Heads of State and representatives of Governments, who attended the event included; President: Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo; Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo; Alassane Dramane Ouattara of the Ivory Coast; and Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso.
The rest are: Macky Sall of Senegal, Professor Alpha Condé of Guinea; Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger; George Weah of Liberia; Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone; and Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embaló of Guinea-Bissau.
Others are; Vice President Bornito de Sousa Baltazar Diogo of Angola; Colonel Assimi Goita, Transition Vice President of Mali; Mr Olavo Avelino Garcia Correia, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Finance of Cape Verde; Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission; and Dr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, ECOWAS Commission President.
Madam Teresa Efua Asangono, Senate President Equatorial Guinea; Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS); and Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria.
Dr J. Peter Pham, the United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region of Africa; Mr James Duddridge, the Minister for Africa at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom; Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, the Foreign Minister of France; Mr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the Minister of External Affairs of India; and Mr Aurélien Agbénonci, Foreign Minister of Benin.
Mr Anin-Yeboah, the Chief Justice administered the oath of office to President Akufo-Addo and Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Also in attendance was: Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the First Lady; Hajia Samira Bawumia, the Second Lady, and former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
Hajia Ramatu Mahama, a former Second Lady; and Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi-Hughes, a former Speaker of Parliament; Mr Freddie Blay, a former First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, and Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
GNA