Outgoing President John Kufuor, one of Africa's most respected leaders, will on Wednesday hand over to John Atta-Mills, becoming Ghana's second elected head of state to hand over to an opposition politician.
Despite tensions in the second round of the historic presidential poll, all appeared set for a smooth transfer of power on January 7, a month after the first round.
Ghana's first landmark handover was in 2000 when former military ruler turned-democrat Jerry Rawlings peacefully handed over to then longtime opposition politician Kufuor.
With the latest handover from Kufuor to Atta-Mills, Ghana is expected to earn another star as a rare functioning democracy on a troubled continent. It has attracted praise from across the globe for its closely fought but successful election.
"All suggest that the transition will be very smooth," Emmanuel Bombande, director of West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) said after examining the latest speeches by Kufuor, president elect Atta-Mills and his rival in the poll Nana Akufo-Addo.
"Atta-Mills's speech was very conciliatory, so was Akufo-Addo's and ... It's a good indication that Ghana is and will continue to be a shining example of democracy in Africa," he said.
Atta-Mills who was having his third attempt at the presidency, won by a slim margin of just 40,000 votes out of a total of some nine million cast, representing slightly under half a percent difference.
Tensions ran high in the second-round runoff which dragged on for longer than anticipated after one constituency failed to vote on the appointed date of December 28 and had to hold its own separate runoff.
But in a message to Atta-Mills, Kufuor, who admitted he would have loved to be succeeded by one of his own, said: "I can count on you to be magnanimous, sympathetic and sportsman-like in your victory so as to forge unity and harmony".
After eight years in opposition when it built its support among the working classes, Atta-Mills's National Democratic Congress (NDC) will find it tough to meet high expectations amid a global economic downturn.
"Their coming at a time of a credit crunch means capital inflows will probably be delayed," said Yaw Kwakwa, an analyst with Accra-based Generation Investment.
At the same time the government will have to make good its electoral campaign promises and satisfy the low income workers who were instrumental in voting them into office, he said.
Eyes are also set on the anticipated oil boom. Many expect new instant wealth to flow across society with the oil Ghana expects to start pumping in 2010.
"Its not going to be easy," said Kwakwa.
Atta-Mills, who campaigned on promises of change, vowed Monday night "to continue with the projects which President Kufuor started, to maintain peace and stability and then to promote unity in our country."
Source: AFP Global Edition
