Scuffles mar Akufo-Addo swearing-in
Publish date: 12 January 2021
Issue Number: 904
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Ghana
Nana Akufo-Addo has been sworn in for a second term as Ghana's President following scuffles between rival politicians in Parliament. Soldiers were briefly deployed after the unusual scenes in one of Africa's most stable democracies. BBC News reports that Akufo-Addo defeated former President John Mahama in December's tightly fought election. The situation in Parliament deteriorated while MPs were voting on a new speaker and an MP snatched a ballot paper and tried to run out of the building with it. ‘There was total breakdown of law and order,’ said MP-elect Kwame Twumasi Ampofo of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). NDC MP Alban Bagbin was later sworn in as speaker. It is the first time Ghana has a President and speaker from different parties.