ACCRA, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Ghana’s new President John Dramani Mahama has named leader of Parliament Cassiel Ato Forson as finance minister, as he seeks to assemble a government able to rapidly address growing discontent by boosting the economy and creating jobs.

Mahama, who was sworn in on Tuesday after winning an election in December, named John Abdulai Jinapor as energy minister and Dominic Akuritinga Ayine as attorney general and justice minister, a presidency statement said on Thursday.

The new government has inherited an economy emerging from its worst crisis in a generation.

Mahama, who served a first term in office from 2012 to 2017, has pledged to prioritise economic recovery and stability, improve the business and investment climate and fight graft.

On the campaign trail, he pledged to nominate all cabinet ministers within his first 14 days in office, and to keep cabinet the lean.

Ministerial nominees have to be approved by Parliament, where Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) party holds a two-thirds majority.

Forson, a 46-year old chartered accountant and lawmaker representing the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam constituency in Ghana’s Central Region, served as deputy finance minister during Mahama’s first term.

After Mahama and the NDC were voted out of power in late 2016, Forson led the party’s finance and economic team in Parliament, and in January 2023 was made the leader of the opposition in parliament.

He holds a PhD in finance from Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and a Master of Science in taxation from the University of Oxford.

(Additional rerting by Christian Akorlie; Writing by Portia Crowe; Editing by Alison Williams, Frances Kerry, William Maclean)