Celebrating The Beauty of Ghanaian Democracy

So on January 3, the dust settled and the new president in the person of Prof. J.E.A. Mills was declared by Uncle Kwadwo Afari-Gyan. There was rapturous cheer from the 50.23% of the Ghanaian electorate who endorsed the NDC in the second round of the 2008 presidential elections. Understandably, most of the remaining 49.77%, who voted for the NPP in the second round, heaved a sigh of relief that all was over. Bottomline-About 95% of Ghanaians were happy about the way the elections went and how the democratic process dictated the choice of the country's leadership for the next four years.

Ghana's solid democratic credentials were further enhanced on January 7th, when the new parliament and head of the executive were sworn into office. The icing on the cake was the unanimous election of the Rt Hon Justice Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo as the first Ghanaian female speaker of parliament. This was ample demonstration that Ghanaians are comfortable with having female leaders in senior positions, as two of the arms of government are now being run by women. I await the day that a worthy daughter of Ghana takes up the presidency of this republic.

Then the inauguration ceremony proper gave us many reasons to celebrate. All the key actors on our political stage were there to grace the occasion, indicating that the new president enjoyed goodwill across the political spectrum. Again the acceptance speech of President Mills was very heartwarming. His friendly overtures to the losing contenders, especially Nana Akufo-Addo, and his promise to build a just, secure, prosperous and better Ghana is an exhibition that he has what it takes to be a good president. We expectantly await the actual implementation of all the lofty ideals beautifully encapsulated in his speech

Following on the heals of all these great achievements, considered by many connoiseurs as trailblazing by third-world standards, Ghana has been receiving great applause by her peers in international circles. Congratulatory messages keep pouring in from far and near, and the country's general goodwill in international circle is increasing daily. From Togo, through Nigeria, Libya, UK to Canada, Ghana is once again being celebrated as the darling of the international community and her accomplishments touted to be worth copying by those countries who are still wallowing in the scourge of dictatorships. Never mind the fact that some of these countries are also struggling with their own systems of government!

What the Mills presidency has to do is to take advantage of this goodwill and continue chalking ground-breaking developmental landmarks, like President J.A. Kufuor before them, in order to further the development agenda of Ghana. One other major task of President Mills is for Ghana to be more vociferous with regards to her traditional foreign policy initiatives which has been aimed at exploring the possibility of African unity as envisioned by the country's founding fathers.

In summary, Ghanaian democracy is definitely on the rise taking into account all the exciting developments of the past few weeks. We look forward to all the parties involved in the governance of the country working together that it moves forward. The successes of Ghanaian democracy are definitely worth celebrating!