US embassy cable - 05ACCRA49

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 000049 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/10/2014 
TAGS: GH, PGOV, GOG 
SUBJECT: GHANA'S PRESIDENT AND PARLIAMENT SWORN IN 
 
Classified By: PolChief Scott Ticknor for reasons 1.5 d and e. 
 
1.  (C)  Summary:  President John Kufuor was sworn in for a 
second term on January 7.  His inauguration was delayed by 
several hours because of a tug-of-war over the selection of 
the new Speaker of Parliament, Ebenezer Sekyi Hughes.  This 
showdown could sour relations for some time between the two 
major parties in parliament.  We do not expect much policy or 
legislative momentum in the coming month, as politicians 
jockey for positions, the new parliament gets organized and 
new ministers and deputies are vetted through parliament. 
End summary. 
 
President Sworn In 
------------------ 
 
2.  (U)  On January 7, John Agyekum Kufuor was sworn in for a 
second four-year term as President of Ghana.  The 
inauguration was attended by the presidents of Senegal, 
Nigeria, Togo, Sierra Leone, Equitorial Guinea, Benin and 
Mali, the Prime Ministers of Angola, Guinea, and Burkina 
Faso, Interim Chairman of the Liberation Unity Government of 
Liberia Gyude Bryant, the Vice Presidents of South Africa and 
the Gambia, the Foreign Minister of Morocco, and other 
dignitaries (Ambassador Yates represented for the USG). In 
his inaugural speech, Kufuor highlighted the need for good 
governance, for increasing confidence in public institutions, 
and for boosting education and health care. 
 
Parliament Off to a Bumpy Start 
------------------------------- 
 
3.  (U)  The ceremony started almost three hours late because 
parliament, meeting just before the inauguration, could not 
reach consensus on the selection of a new Speaker.  The 
ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) backed President Kufuor's 
choice of Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes, while the opposition 
National Democratic Congress (NDC) pushed for the reelection 
of outgoing Speaker Peter Ala Adjetey.  In an unprecedented 
secret ballot (counted three times because of math errors), 
 
SIPDIS 
Hughes prevailed 134 votes to 96.  Parliament retained 
Freddie Blay as First Deputy Speaker by consensus but then 
again disagreed over the choice of the largely ceremonial 
Second Deputy Speaker position.  The NPP again prevailed in a 
secret ballot vote, with its winning candidate Malik Yakubu 
 
SIPDIS 
Al-Hassan (an NPP MP from Yendi, Northern Region).  With 
these positions selected, the new Speaker swore in 230 new 
Members of Parliament. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
4.  (C)  The GOG badly bungled the protocol of the 
inauguration and related events during the week, damaging 
Ghana's reputation for many visitors.  At the inauguration, 
Heads of State and Ambassadors were left waiting for hours 
without explanation.  Some Members of Parliament were left 
standing without seats (PolChief witnessed police threatening 
to beat VIPs if they did not vacate seats).  Kufuor's aides 
forgot to bring the sheet of paper with the oath of office, 
forcing the President to repeat the words of the Chief 
Justice.  VIP vehicles arrived and departed chaotically, with 
no protocol officers in sight.  The suddenly arriving thick 
mist of hamattan season added to the atmosphere of confusion. 
 
 
5.  (C)  Parliament is off to an inauspicious start.  The 
selection of Speaker is usually decided before MP's come to 
vote.  The secret ballot voting for both Speaker and Deputy 
Speaker was unprecedented.  The results - two NPP choices and 
no one in leadership from the NDC - will likely sour 
relations between the two major parties in parliament.  The 
election of Deputy Speaker Malik Yakubu Al-Hassan is 
controversial.  Formerly Interior Minister, he resigned under 
pressure after the 2002 murder of the Ya Na (Dagbon Chief) in 
his home town.  Speaker Hughes and First Deputy Speaker Blay 
are both from the Akan ethnic group.  Their election 
reinforces the Akan identity of the Kufuor government (Kufuor 
and the Chief Justice are also Akans, but the Speaker has 
traditionally been a Ga.) This could eventually hurt the 
NPP's political support among other ethnic groups.  We will 
provide a bio of the new Speaker septel. 
 
6.  (C)  We do not expect much policy or legislative momentum 
in Ghana for at least the next month.  Enthusiasm for 
Kufuor's second term could increase after his new ministers 
are in place.  At the moment, however, politicians are busy 
jockeying for positions in the new government.  There are 
currently no ministers (ministries are being run by Chief 
Directors).  All new ministers will need approval from 
parliament, which will be absorbed in the coming weeks with 
forming committees and training (52 percent of MPs are new to 
parliament).  The President is in Gabon for an AU Security 
Summit and, in the next few weeks, will host an ECOWAS Summit 
in Accra and attend an AU Summit in Addis Abbaba.  He will 
likely begin to name Cabinet nominees within the next week, 
but parliamentary approval could take weeks.  The President's 
priorities in early February will be the budget and his State 
of the Nation Address (Note: the President's January 4 State 
of the Nation address fulfilled, for the first time ever, a 
constitutional requirement that the President address 
parliament before the end of its session about his 
performance.  The February State of the Nation address will 
fulfill another constitutional requirement that the President 
address parliament at the beginning of a session, and is 
likely to be more prospective than the January speech.  End 
note.) The Parliament will adjourn by March 25 for six weeks. 
 We will do more analysis over the coming weeks about what to 
expect from Kufuor's second term. 
 
 
 
 
 
YATES