Ghana president to be sworn in amid oppn boycott

Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama will be sworn into office on Monday following last month’s polls in a ceremony to be boycotted by the opposition, which has claimed fraud and challenged the results in court. The 54-year-old Mahama, who initially became head of state after the death of his predecessor John Atta Mills in July, won 7 December elections with 50.7 per cent of the vote compared to main opposition candidate Nana Akufo-Addo’s 47.7 per cent. Observer groups hailed the polls as another successful election in the country viewed as a stable democracy in turbulent West Africa, but Akufo-Addo’s party has alleged the vote was stolen. The stakes were especially high in the election, with the newly elected president in charge of a growing stream of oil revenue.