Don’t suck up to sycophants and undermine your legacy

An Open Letter to President Mahama

A New Year’s Reflection

I join millions of Ghanaians in wishing you, President, a happy, healthy, and productive 2026 as you continue your service to our beloved nation.

May this year, the second of your second term, renew your resolve to help Ghana take its rightful place in the comity of nations nearly seven decades after independence.

My decision to write this open letter at the dawn of the new year is driven by a growing chorus of sycophantic voices urging you to flout the Constitution by seeking a third term in office.

These voices, as even your party leadership, the Chairman and General Secretary, have described them, include sections of the clergy, notably Archbishop Duncan Williams, some traditional rulers such as the Krontihene of Asuom in the Eastern Region, and a few senior politicians who should know better.

The Constitution and Your Legacy

As you well know, no constitution anywhere in the world is perfect, yet our 1992 Constitution has proved remarkably functional. It has safeguarded democratic stability for 32 years — a record in which you and your National Chairman, Asiedu-Nketia, played no small role.

One reason you already stand poised for the Hall of Fame of Ghanaian Presidents is the depth of your democratic experience from Assemblyman and MP to Minister, Vice President, and now twice-elected President. Few leaders embody the continuity of Ghana’s constitutional journey as profoundly as you.

You understand that the liberal-democratic order you helped to craft rests on three mutually reinforcing pillars: the political, economic, and cultural. Undermining one endangers the entire structure.

The Third-Term Temptation

The momentum that brought you back to power in 2024 was not a Mahama momentum, but a democracy momentum, a collective reaffirmation of Ghanaians’ faith in constitutional governance. Voters sought to rescue the Republic from creeping authoritarianism under President Akufo-Addo.

Akufo-Addo’s administration’s record, the humiliation of a frail traditional leader in the Volta Region, the arrest of critics, the stacking of key offices with unqualified cronies — bred disillusionment. The promise to “protect the public purse” collapsed under the weight of lavish favoritism and waste.

The spectacle of extravagant gifts — including a brand-new Land Cruiser and an alleged ₵5 billion funeral donation to the Queen Mother of Chiraa, my own hometown — stands as an affront to prudence and modesty in public service. It was this widespread discontent, not mere party loyalty that returned you to Jubilee House.

A Constitutional Red Line

To claim that this victory justifies amending the Constitution to extend your tenure is dangerously flawed. The two-term presidential limit is not a bureaucratic detail; it is the moral compass of our democracy. It symbolizes the humility that no one individual is indispensable.

You have already earned respect for having embraced alternation of power and honored the Constitution. Yielding now to flattery would not only tarnish your legacy but threaten the democratic fabric you helped weave.

Ghanaians are discerning. They can distinguish praise from manipulation and service from self-interest. The same people who laud you today will condemn you tomorrow if you succumb to this constitutional heresy.

A Warning from History

Africa’s political landscape is strewn with once-admired leaders who let flattery cloud their judgment — men who mistook transient applause for historical vindication. You must not join their ranks.

You have the opportunity to end your public life as one of Ghana’s most respected democratic statesmen — the leader who twice served, twice stepped down, and left an unblemished record. Resisting this temptation will affirm that John Dramani Mahama is not merely a politician, but a democrat in the truest sense.

On Sycophancy and Misplaced Clerical Zeal

Archbishop Duncan Williams and others now leading this chorus of misplaced praise should reflect on their own record. Was the Archbishop not a prominent member of the ill-fated National Cathedral Committee, the symbol of state waste and misplaced piety under President Akufo-Addo?

Their newfound advocacy for a “Mahama Third Term” smacks less of conviction than of opportunism — a transparent bid to remain close to power.

A word to the wise, as our elders say, is enough, Papa.

Final Counsel

President, your second term offers the chance to consolidate your legacy — not by clinging to power, but by strengthening institutions, mentoring new leaders, and upholding constitutional integrity.

Ghanaians entrusted you with this renewed mandate not to rewrite the rules but to uphold them. Stay the course, resist the whispers of sycophants, and let your name be remembered among those who placed country before ambition and principle before praise.

May history record that John Dramani Mahama stood tall where others stumbled — a leader who valued legacy over longevity.