Gov’t to mark 25 yrs of Fourth Republic with Thanksgiving Service

Several guests are expected to throng the Independence Square for the ceremony[/caption] A thanksgiving service has been planned by government on Sunday to mark the Silver Jubilee of the Fourth Republic. The ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Independence Square at 3:30pm. Ghana’s Fourth Republic began on January 7, 1993 after the swearing in of Jerrry John Rawlings as winner of the 1992 presidential elections. He beat the late Professor Albert Adu Boahen of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Mr Rawlings had, before then, served as the head of state of the country since December 31, 1981, when he ousted the Dr Hilla Limann government in a coup d’etat with his Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). [caption id="attachment_48633" align="alignnone" width="564"] The surviving leaders of the Fourth Republic: [L-R] John Rawlings, John Kufuor, Nana Akufo-Addo and John Mahama[/caption] [caption id="attachment_48684" align="alignnone" width="564"] A cartoon of the surviving 4th Republican leaders[/caption] But after serving eight years as a constitutionally elected president, Mr Rawlings relinquished power to John Agyekum Kufuor in 2001, when Ghana marked a smooth transition of power, for the first time, between two democratically elected governments. Mr Kufuor had beaten then Vice President Professor John Evans Atta Mills in the 2000 presidential runoff. After serving eight years, Mr Kufuor’s government also had to hand over to another democratically elected team, led by the late Professor Atta Mills, who defeated then Foreign Minister Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the country’s second presidential runoff under the Fourth Republic. The late Prof Atta Mills, consequently, became the third president of the Fourth Republic. But unfortunately he died five months to the end of his first term, which was continued by his vice, John Dramani Mahama. Mr Mahama, subsequently, won the 2012 elections to begin a fresh term, albeit on the ticket of the NDC, as Ghana’s fourth leader under the Republic. He was, however, defeated after his first term, in 2016, by Mr Akufo-Addo, whose victory marked the first for an opposition party as it did not go into a runoff. Sunday’s ceremony will, therefore, mark the first year in office for President Akufo-Addo, the fifth president of the current republic. Guests have been asked to be seated by 3:00pm. By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana Follow @kwame_amoh]]>