Ghana is set to receive over 11 heads of states and governments, two vice presidents, 13 government representatives, five international representatives of multilateral organizations, and a number of ex-presidents from West Africa and other parts of the world at the 7th January inaugural ceremony which will be held at the Black Star Square in Accra.

About 5,000 security officers will be deployed for the Presidential inauguration ceremony on Saturday, January 7, 2017.

This was disclosed by the Presidential transition team at a press briefing on Tuesday 3rd January, to provide updates on its work ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.

According to the Spokesperson of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) side of the Transition team, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, access to the various areas of the Independent Square will be highly restricted to a few people with the required accreditation.

He said the security will be on high-alert to avert any unfortunate incident. “Our friends with National Security and the various security agencies are providing us with about 5,000 men and women drawn from the security agencies; military, police, national security etc.

Access to the various circles will be strictly on accreditation basis and we ask people who are coming in to expect some form of screening in the light of the times that we find ourselves in, and to kindly cooperate with the security agencies during these exercises.”

He said some major streets will be blocked ahead of the start of the event, and parking restricted to some specific persons at designated areas including the Parliament House and the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park.

With Media arrangements, according to Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, a media center will be provided at the Independence Square, venue for the inauguration ceremony, to accommodate all media houses.

Reiterating that, a central audio and video outlet will be provided to enable the various media houses pick their feed and broadcast to the public, where media photographers with the necessary accreditation will be granted access to the inner perimeter where they can also take photos.

On her part, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway who is also a Co-chairperson of the inauguration subcommittee of the Transition Team, also disclosed that, presidents from other African countries including Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, Togo, Benin, Gabon, Zambia have all confirmed their attendance at the event and also will have prime ministers from Ethiopia and a couple of other countries.

“Let me add that this is not expected to be the final figure; we will have a final figure about 24 hours to the event and preparations are far advanced for hosting the numerous dignitaries in the country”.  She noted.

By: Blessing Roselyn Boateng

 

Exclusively Newslinegh