Inauguration in kente

Africa has good reason to be proud of what has happened in Ghana. We in Ghana have good cause to be proud. Today, let us smile and take that smile with us into tomorrow, as the hard work starts. Thank you for your confidence."  With those words on January 7th, 2001, President John Agyekum Kufuor, took up the reins of power.The inauguration took place on the forecourt at Parliament House in Accra. Resplendent in hand-woven Kente cloth, Kufuor and his vice president, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, swore allegiance to the nation and to God and Allah respectively. Afterwards, the outgoing president, J.J.Rawlings, who had ruled Ghana for 19 years, embraced his successor on the dais. Celebrations then moved to the nearby Independence Square, where Kufuor addressed the nation.