United Nations' Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, on Tuesday congratulated Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, Ghana's President-elect who emerged winner in the country's general elections in December 2000.
A statement from Mr Kufuor's office in Accra said the president-elect has also received messages from Heads of State of some African countries and leaders of the international community.
They are from King Mohammed VI of Morroco which said, "On the occasion of your election as president of the brotherly Republic of Ghana, we are pleased to extend our most sincere congratulations and best wishes to you for every success in your new lofty duties and in leading ... the nation along the right path of democracy."
Others are Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Abduolayi Wade of Senegal, Gynassingbe Eyadema of Togo, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Blaisse Campore of Burkina Faso.
The rest are Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, Tai Wan Chin, Executive Secretary of World League for Freedom and Democracy, Tanvir Mwazrhan of Bangladesh and two separate messages from Italy and the Philippines.
Similarly the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) on Tuesday congratulated Mr. Kufuor. In a statement at Takoradi signed by the National President, Mr. J. Ebow Quashie, the GBA also commended Prof. Mills for conceding defeat and Ghanaians for the high sense of maturity exhibited throughout the election process, saying: "democracy has matured in Ghana."
The statement advised the in-coming NPP government to put in place measures to strengthen the institutions established under the 1992 constitution to ensure freedom and justice.
It said: "To deepen our democracy, there is the need to strengthen the institutions such as the Judiciary, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Police Service and others established to facilitate the development of the country."
