Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has won re-election with 51.59 per cent of the vote, beating his predecessor and old rival John Mahama, results from the election commission showed on results from the election commission showed yesterday late in the evening.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has congratulated President Nana Akufo-Addo following his re-election for a second term in office.
President Kenyatta said the re-election of President Akufo-Addo in a hot contest poll demonstrates the strong confidence and trust the people of Ghana have his visionary and progressive leadership.
“On behalf of the Government and the people of Kenya and on my own behalf, I wish to extend my warmest congratulations on Your Excellency’s re-election as President of Ghana,” President Kenyatta said in his congratulatory message to President Akufo-Addo.
President Kenyatta added that “I believe, under your visionary and strong leadership, Ghana will certainly consolidated and expand the gains made during your first term in office for the benefit of your people and the African continent.”
The election results followed a contentious poll that both candidates had said they were leading based on their camps’ tallies. Five people were killed in election violence since Monday, police said, marring what observers said was a well-organized vote.
The Ghanaian Police Service said it recorded more than 60 incidents at Monday’s vote, in which President Nana Akufo-Addo ran for re-election against his main rival, former President John Mahama, and 10 other candidates.
“Twenty-one of the incidents are true cases of electoral violence, six of which involve gunshots resulting in the death of five,” it said.
But tensions have risen as the camps of Mahama and Akufo-Addo said their tallies showed their candidate in the lead.
“There were issues on Election Day about the procedure of voting, then immediately after the voting there were complaints about the way the result were being sorted out,” Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reporter said.
Akufo Addo has promised to implement a $17 billion program to boost Ghana’s economy after the coronavirus pandemic hit the price of key oil and cocoa exports, resulting in the first quarterly contraction in nearly 40 years.
He will be under pressure to rein in government spending that has pushed the debt-to-GDP ratio past 70 per cent and prompted warnings from the International Monetary Fund.
