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I will offer selfless leadership — President Mahama

President Mahama and his wife, Lordina, dancing at the Ringway Gospel Centre of the Assemblies of God Church in Accra yesterday. Picture: EBOW HANSONPresident John Dramani Mahama has pledged to create the enabling environment for all Ghanaians, irrespective of their political, ethnic or religious affiliations.

He again dedicated himself to offer selfless leadership towards propelling the country’s socio-economic development and implored Ghanaians not to sit on the fence but take advantage of the conducive environment that he would create to do business and support the development of the country.

President Mahama gave the pledge at a thanksgiving service at the Action Chapel International on the Spintex Road in Accra yesterday to pray and thank God for guiding the country peacefully throughout the election petition which the Supreme Court heard for eight months, after which it upheld the validity of his victory in the 2012 election.

He was accompanied by his wife, Lordina; the Chief of Staff, Mr Prosper Douglas Bani; the Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Kwabena Adjei; the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, and ministers of state.

Songs of praise, prayers and Bible readings characterised the thanksgiving service, which was attended by hundreds of members of the church and supporters and sympathisers of the NDC.

Earlier, President Mahama and the First Lady had joined members of the Ringway Gospel Centre of the Assemblies of God Church, where he and his family worship, to pray and thank God for blessing the country with peace after the judgement on the petition and granting him victory.

The President said although countries such as Kenya, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe had been involved in election petitions, the spotlight of the international community had been on Ghana during the hearing of the petition.

That, he said, was because of Ghana's enviable reputation as a beacon of democracy in Africa.

President Mahama said he was always hopeful that Ghanaians would stand the test of time to once again demonstrate Ghana’s respect for democracy and the rule of law.

He said many Ghanaians had expressed some fear that there could be violence after the Supreme Court judgement on the election petition, noting, however, that the security officers deployed to main law and order had a virtual holiday.

He said Ghana had a bright future and stated that Ghanaians would attain that bright future if they worked together as one people with a common destiny.

He, therefore, asked the people to put the election petition behind them and come together in a boat to sail the country to the promised land.

President Mahama affirmed his resolve to take guidance and counseling from all Ghanaians, since the one beating the path would not know where it was crooked.

President Mahama said the outcome of the petition showed that Ghana was building strong institutions.

He thanked the justices of the Supreme Court for their sagacity and wisdom in hearing the petition and urged other institutions, such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), to take inspiration from that.

He thanked the security services for the professional manner in which they handled themselves, lauded the media for the coverage they had given to the hearing and commended the National Peace Council, religious, traditional and political party leaders for their messages of peace.

By Musah Yahaya Jafaru/Daily Graphic/Ghana

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