President Mahama delivered a farewell speech to members of the West African sub-regional body ECOWAS, during the closing of its 50th ordinary session in Abuja on 17th December 2016.

President Mahama in his speech thanked his colleague Presidents for their support during his tenure as president and also for sending an observer mission to monitor the peaceful election that took place on December 7th, 2016.

"I wish to say that elections were successfully held on December 7th, I want to thank ECOWAS for its role in the success of the elections and to thank the observer missions that were with us throughout the period and other observer missions specifically the African Union, EU and Commonwealth missions. We currently have a joint transition team working to ensure a smooth transition of power from one government to the other."

Opposition Leader and Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party Nana Akufo-Addo won the presidential election with 53.85% of the votes whilst President Mahama chalked 44.4%.

President Mahama outlined some of his achievements during his tenure as leader of Ghana including structural reforms and investments in social and economic infrastructure.

He thanked the Heads of State of member countries who helped during the Ebola outbreak in the sub-region, the Burkina Faso crisis, Mali among other issues.

The ECOWAS Chair also thanked the house for allowing him to work with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on the Gambian crisis and hoped to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

President Mahama indicated that he had no immediate plans after handing over and just wanted to rest.

"...Many people have asked me what my plans are, I have no plans yet. My immediate intention is to take a well-deserved rest after 3 years of working without a single break. I guess that going forward i'll be more engaged on sub-regional, continental and global matters..." he noted.

President John Dramani Mahama is expected to hand over power to the President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo on January 7th, 2017.