Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed gratitude to Ghanaians for electing him president of the country.

“I thank you my fellow citizens for making me the president of this beautiful country,” Mr Akufo-Addo said at his swearing in at the Black Star Square in Accra on December 7.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was on Saturday January 7 sworn in as the fifth president of Ghana under the Fourth Republic.

He was sworn in by Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood after he took the presidential oath and the oath of secrecy.

Several dignitaries and foreign diplomats graced the occasion, which saw the president of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, as the special guest of honour.

The presidents of Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya, Egdar Lungu, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Uhuru Kenyatta, respectively were present.

Other prominent persons who graced the occasion were Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, Indonesia’s Joko Widodo, Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali and a representative each from Mauritius and the USA. Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote was also present.

Members of parliament, opposition political party leaders, the clergy, traditional rulers, and a section of Ghanaians clad in white and NPP apparel, witnessed the ceremony.

Mr Akufo-Addo beat ex-president John Mahama and five other candidates in the December 7 election by securing 53.85 per cent of valid votes cast to win the contest for the presidency.

He is expected to implement policies to improve the economy, create jobs, and place the country on a developmental pedestal among others.