Ghana all set for big change

Human-rights lawyer and opposition leader promises ’progress and prosperity’ as he sweeps presidential poll

CHALLENGER Nana Akufo-Addo won Ghana’s national election, tapping into an electorate fed up with a sputtering economy and ready for change.

The erudite 72-year-old human-rights lawyer cruised to victory, winning 53.8% of the votes, according to Ghana’s election agency.

“I will not let you down. I will do all in my power to live up to your hopes and expectations,” Akufo-Addo told an ecstatic crowd at his house in the country’s capital of Accra.

“I will do my best to serve your interests and put our country back on the path of progress and prosperity.”

Incumbent John Mahama conceded defeat two days after a hotly contested race that was seen as a test of democracy in a region plagued by dictators and coups.

Mahama called to congratulate opposition leader AkufoAddo, whose New Patriotic Party supporters had been gathering for hours outside his house after local media gave him a clear lead following the Wednesday vote.

“He has conceded defeat,” said George Lawson of Mahama’s New Democratic Congress.

Akufo-Addo campaigned on a platform promising to boost growth and deliver jobs.

“The president of Ghana is president for every single Ghanaian,” Akufo-Addo said, as fireworks popped overhead and thousands of people cheered in the streets outside his house.

Akufo-Addo’s supporters — almost all in head-to-toe white, a symbol of victory — had been THIRD TIME LUCKY: The president-elect of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo dancing on his lawn for hours in anticipation of his victory speech.

At one point, they broke out in an enthusiastic a cappella rendition of Ghana’s national anthem.

Akufo-Addo will serve a fouryear term.

Mahama, who came to power in 2012 after beating Akufo-Addo, had urged voters to “stay the course”, promising to deliver more infrastructure projects.

In his third bid for the top job, Akufo-Addo had blasted Ghana’s poor economic growth rate — estimated at 3.3% in 2016, the lowest rate for two decades — and laid out a radical vision to transform the economy.

Akufo-Addo had also warned his supporters that “vigilance is key” at the polls in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the 2012 vote — narrowly won by Mahama with 50.7% — that he contested unsuccessfully in Ghana’s supreme court.

Ghana is the world’s second biggest producer of cocoa after Ivory Coast, and Africa’s second biggest gold producer after South Africa.

But it had to turn to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout last year as global commodity prices tanked. — AFP

I will not let you down. I will do all in my power to live up to your hopes