Head of Marketing and Communication, Stanbic Bank, Mawuko Afadzinu has been elected President of the Institute of Public Relations (IPR), Ghana.

Mr Afadzinu, who is also the outgoing, Vice President of IPR, Ghana, had 59 votes in a keenly contested election to defeat Donald Gwira, who had 22 votes.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) reports that the elections, which was supervised by the Electoral Commission, took place over the weekend at Aqua Safari Resort at Big Ada in the Greater Accra Region.

With regards to the IPR, Ghana Vice Presidential race, Henry Nii Dottey, outgoing Secretary of the Institute, was elected with 56 votes.

Whilst his opponent, Mr Richard Osei-Anane had 26 votes.

Other officials who stood unopposed and were confirmed include Madam Shirley Tony Kum, Honorary Secretary.

Madam Tony Kum, is the Corporate Communications Manager of Vivo Energy Ghana.

The rest are Mr Kwabena Asare Okae-Anti, Vice Honorary Secretary and Madam Afia Drah, Treasurer.

The elected National Executive Officers would be inaugurated in December.

A visibly elated Mr Afadzinu in an interview with the Ghana News Agency expressed his gratitude to the delegates for the honour done him.

He said communication was so very important to the development and the unity of the country and that the country's prosperity depends on its image and how Ghanaians effectively communicate.

He said it was for this reason that IPR was leading the drive to raise the standards in the areas of image management and the general space of communication.

"All the different variance of communications, we are looking to improve, and we are looking to harness to serve the interest of the country and the people with a common destiny. And it starts with the professionals, so the professionals must show the way."

He said what the Institute intends to do was to raise the standard in communication; adding that they would work closely with the Government to ensure the passage of the Institute's Act, in order to ensure that members of the Institute live to expected standards.

Mr Afadzinu also appealed to all public relations practitioners to prove their professions’ worth as value enhancers.

The election of the National Executive Officers was part of the 2019 National Public Relations and Communications Summit and 26th Annual General Meeting of the IPR, Ghana.

The two-day meeting, on the theme; "Deriving Value from Values: Achieving the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda”, was attended by more than 120 IPR members.