The President of Ghana is the elected head of state and head of Government of Ghana. Officially styled President of the Republic of Ghana and Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. The current President of Ghana is H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who leads the executive branch of the Government of Ghana since succeeding to the presidency of the Republic of Ghana after a landslide victory in the 2016 presidential election. He was inaugurated on 7^th January, 2017.

Powers and Duties of the President

Chapter 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana states the duties and the powers of the President. The president is required to:

·         Uphold the Constitution

·         Exercise executive authority of the Republic of Ghana

·         Preserve the safety of the Republic of Ghana.

Also, the president is given the powers:

As the leader of the executive branch of government

As the commander-in-chief of the military of the Republic of Ghana

·         To declare war

·         To hold referenda regarding issues of national importance

·         To issue executive orders

·         To issue medals in honor of service for the nation

·         To issue pardons

·         To declare a state of emergency suspending all laws or enacting a

State of Martial Law

The President may execute or cause to execute treaties, agreements or conventions in the name of the Republic of Ghana.  The President shall take precedence over the populace of the Republic of Ghana and may refer important policy matters to a national referendum, declare war, conclude peace and other treaties, appoint senior public officials, and grant amnesty (with the concurrence of the Parliament of Ghana).  In times of serious internal or external turmoil or threat, or economic or financial crises. The president may assume emergency powers "for the maintenance of national security or public peace and order".

Profile of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo 

Date and Place of birth

H.E. President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo born on 29^th March, 1944 was raised at Swalaba in Accra to Mr. Edward Akufo-Addo and Mrs. Adeline Akufo-Addo. He hailed from Kyebi in the Eastern Region.

Education

He started his primary education at the Government Boys School, Adabraka, and later at the Rowe Road School (now Kinbu) both in Accra Central. He went to England to study for his O-Level and A-Level examinations at Lancing College, Sussex. He began the Philosophy, Politics and Economics course at New College, Oxford in 1962, but left soon afterwards.

He returned to Ghana in 1962 to teach at Accra Academy Secondary School, before going to read Economics at the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1964, earning a BSc (Econ) degree in 1967.

He subsequently studied law in the UK and was called to the English Bar (Middle Temple) in July 1971. Akufo-Addo was called to the Ghanaian bar in July 1975.

Work

Akufo-Addo worked with the Paris office of the U.S. law firm Courdet Freres. In 1979 and he co-founded the law firm Prempeh and Co Work

Politics

Akufo-Addo's participation in politics began in the late 1970s when he joined the People's Movement for Freedom and Justice, an organization formed to oppose the General Acheampong-led Supreme Military Council's Union Government proposals. In May 1995, he was among a broad group of elites who formed Alliance for Change, an alliance that organized demonstrations against neo-liberal policies such as the introduction of Value Added Tax and human rights violations of the Rawlings presidency. 

The broad-based opposition alliance later collapsed as the elite leaders jostled for leadership positions. In the 1990s, he formed a civil rights organization called Ghana's Committee on Human and People's Rights.

In October 1998, Akufo-Addo competed for the presidential candidacy of the NPP and lost to John Kufuor, who subsequently won the December 2000 presidential election and assumed office as President of Ghana in January 2001. Akufo-Addo was the chief campaigner for Kufuor in the 2000 election.

He became the first Attorney General and Minister for Justice of the Kufuor era, and later moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

In 2007, he was the popular candidate tipped to win NPP's presidential primaries. In 2008, Akufo-Addo represented NPP in a closely contested election against John Atta Mills of NDC. In the first round of voting, Akufo-Addo tallied 49.13%, leading Atta Mills with a slim margin that was below the constitutional threshold of 50.1% to become the outright winner.

Akufo-Addo was again NPP's presidential candidate in the 2012 national elections against major rival NDC's John Mahama, the successor of the late Atta Mills. Mahama was declared the winner of the election, an outcome that was legally challenged by Akufo-Addo. The court case generated considerable controversy, and was finally decided by the Ghana Supreme Court in a narrow 5/4 decision in favour of Mahama. Akufo-Addo accepted the verdict in the interest of economic stability and international goodwill.

On November 30, Akufo-Addo received the endorsement of the All People Congress in Ghana's Northern region. He focused his campaign on the economy, promising to stabilize the country's foreign exchange rate and to reduce unemployment levels. On 9 December 2016, sitting president Mahama conceded defeat to Akufo-Addo.

President Nana Akufo Addo won the December 2016 general election with 53.83% of the total valid votes cast beating his nearest rival, John Dramani Mahama of now opposition National Democratic Congress who polled a close 44.4% 

At the Independence Square in Accra on Monday, 7 January 2017 he was sworn-in to begin his four-year term.