The President-Elect, John Dramani Mahama, has announced his intention to institute a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving.
He explained that every year as a nation, the citizenry will take time off their busy schedules to pray and to thank God for his provisions, protection and goodness to the nation.
Mr Mahama stated this at a Thanksgiving Service held in his honour by the Ringway Gospel Centre of Assemblies of God in Osu on Sunday(December 15,2024). The spirit-filled service attracted a good number of members from the Assemblies of God fraternity across the country.
In attendance were Mr Mahama's wife Lordina, children, siblings and their spouses, close friends and other guests. The General Superintendent of Assemblies of God,Ghana Reverend Stephen Yenusom Wengam and his wife Monica were present.
“We will take time off to pray and thank God. And I'm going to be a significant part of that thanksgiving” the President-Elect assured Ghanaians.
He thanked God for strength and health to be in “His presence today to say thank you to Him. As we are told in all things, we should give thanks to God.”
Mr Mahama indicated that it was imperative for the nation to give thanks to God because anytime "we're about to have elections, people have anxiety that the elections might end in voilence or in unpleasantness. But always God comes in for us and he makes us go through it successful and peacefully".
Arrogance
The President-Elect used the occasion to remind politicians and people who wield power that there is no need to grow in “arrogance and selfishness.”
“We have believed that the power that we wielded over the people belonged to us, ourselves, and did not recognise that it was God who gave it to us temporarily. So God has made us know that power belongs to the people, and that the people might be quiet, peaceful and calm, but when they have reached their limits, they will show you that real power belongs to them, and that it is God who gives that power” he observed.
Warning
Mr Mahama warned those seeking positions in his new government, that it is not going to be “a walk in the park.”
“If you are not prepared to work and serve the people of Ghana diligently and modestly and with humility, then don't come” he further advised potential appointees.
On his political career, he stated that it has been “a divine one, and I believe that it's God who has guided my step each way, and so now from being a Member of Parliament, to being a Deputy Minister, to being a Minister, to being a Vice President, to being a President, at each step I have doubted whether it was the path that I wanted to carry on.”
Road to success
He recalled that the road to success and God's calling to serve the nation has been tortuous, mixed with both sadness and happiness like what is happening to him currently.
The President-Elect said he was surprised when one day he visited President John Agyekum Kufuor after winning the 2012 general election, the entrance and surrounding was quiet.
He said hitherto former President Kufuor's house particularly during festivities was always crowded with people carrying sheep and cattle among other farm animals to present as gifts to him.
“its true, when i lost in 2016, the christmas happiness stopped coming. The many people who used to come to my gates and enter, just to see me for a minute stopped coming. It was only my siblings, family, closest friends and church members who continued to stand by me" Mr Mahama stated.
Trappings
He stressed that “these trappings of power don't get to my head. I know that all the praises and blessings you'll be showered with by people are temporary. It's because of that word attached to your name, President." On his campaign trail, he observed that it was a difficult and a gruelling campaign.
“There were times when the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. There were mornings when getting out of bed was quite a struggle. Because we had just come back from campaigning at about 3:00am and by 8:00 am they were asking you to get up and hit the road again. And yet, when I managed to get out of bed and stood under the shower, it was as if God was washing all the fatigue away” he stressed.
He said because of the God factor, anytime he stepped out of the shower, God gives him renewed energy to go for the campaigns again.
The President-Elect thanked God for protecting him and his campaign team from accidents as the team visited every part of the country.
He equally thanked his wife and children for physically joining his campaign trail visiting every constituency in the country to canvass for votes.
"we suffered no casualty. We had no accident. If you consider that, we visited every part of this country, every single constituency and we were on the move continuously for weeks on end, driving thousands of kilometres yet , there was no casualty, no accident. But i want to say, the easy part is over" he suggested.
