President for hours
by Patti | October 3, 2010 at 1:43 PM
Justice Georgina WoodeNot once but twice, my beloved country Ghana has had female presidents. Can you believe it? Check these out:
At 5pm on January 6th, 2009, President John Agyekum Kufuor left office together with his vice president Alhaji Aliu Mahama, ready to hand over to the next elected president the next day. From that time, the Speaker of Parliament, Right Honorable Ebenezer Sekyi-Hughes was in charge of the nation. At midnight on the same day, Parliament was dissolved. This means the person in charge of this beautiful nation was Justice Georgina Woode. She did not need to be sworn in because she is the Chief Justice. She was in charge from midnight on January 7th, 2009 till 2pm or thereabouts on January 7th, 2009 when she swore in Prof. John Evans Atta Mills and Mr. John Mahama as President and Vice President respectively. She was president for about eight hours.
At 2:17pm on October 1st, 2010, while President Mills was out in Japan and Vice President Mahama was in Nigeria, the Speaker of Parliament, Right Honorable Joyce Bamford Addo, was sworn in by Justice Georgina Woode as president. She was president until about 7pm when Vice President Mahama returned from Nigeria - a total of about four hours and forty-three minutes.
This is good for Ghana, a sure sign that we will very soon have a female president. My desire is that the female president who comes in should make a major difference to the nation and the world. Go, Women, go!
