Young Positivist writes; Mahama at One

Folks, I have decided to write about John Mahama and his administration over the last year and assess his performance. AS a citizen and not a spectator, I want to share my feelings and sentiments over the last 12 months of his administration and rate him on certain areas that I find necessary.

The areas under my microscope are: the economy, corruption, illegal mining (galamsey) and the judicial system.

Folks, I am sure many of you will agree with me that the election of John Mahama as president of Ghana was a form of liberation for the country, after having seen the unprecedented incompetence from Akufo-Addo and his administration. In fact, many had attributed John Mahama’s victory to that of the day Ghana gained its independence in 1957.

Akufo-Addo ruled as a tyrant without human feelings.

History may remember Akufo-Addo as the worst president the country has ever had or will ever have. He presided over incompetence and recklessness. He had mismanaged the economy to an unparalleled record low and had supervised corruption as he was the chief beneficiary.

No wonder they described him as the “mother serpent of corruption”. If Akufo-Addo was allowed to continue to rule after January 7 2025, Ghana would have been extinct.

The victory of Mahama in December 2024 was like a second independence for the country. It was a redemption from an insensitive government that never thought about its people but only how to enrich themselves and their cronies. Any soul living at that time wanted a change of government, and not any ordinary change, but a drastic one.

The kind of change that would look like a revolution or military takeover. To put it mildly, Ghana was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) fighting for her life.

At one point, Ghanaians did not really think whether Mahama and his party had any message or not. All we needed was a change of government from that hellish administration presided over by Akufo-Addo. Let me leave Akufo-Addo for now and concentrate on the man of the moment, John Dramani Mahama.

It's been exactly one year since John Mahama assumed the reins of government with his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC). As stated earlier, the less said about the previous government, the better. Ghana, as a country, was being auctioned, but there was no buyer. There was nothing appealing to lure a buyer to invest their money. There was nothing to write home about.

Assessing Mahama on the economy one year into his four-year term has been competence and discipline. As of January 2025, Ghana’s inflation was in double figures, 23.5%. It got to a point where inflation was hovering around 54%. The economic difficulties that the country was plunged into were agonizing. One year into John Mahama’s administration, Inflation stands at a single digit 6.3%.

A lot of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) members have tried to discredit this gain, but the reality is that Ghanaians cannot fall for their cheap propaganda. This figure of 6.3% did not happen by chance or by coincidence but by shrewd work and economic discipline by the government. If it were easy, the previous government would have done it.

A dollar to the Ghana cedi was trading at 14.6 cedis on January 7 2025. It got to a point where the dollar was trading at almost 17 cedis to one dollar. Now, if the Bank of Ghana was trading at 17 cedis, you can imagine what the ‘black market’ was trading a dollar for cedis! This was the economic abyss we found ourselves in under the previous government.

Today, the dollar is trading around 10 to 11 cedis to one dollar. This is not just a miracle but proper thinking and some financial discipline, with some economic tact from the government. If it were so easy, they would have done it.

Folks, you may have noticed that there has been some marginal stability with regard to the cedis for the past few months. It will only take dishonest people to discredit the government for the gains they have made relative to the stability of the cedi.

I am not oblivious that the economy is not only determined by inflation and exchange rate, but these two are major factors, and for the government to have done this in one year, they deserve some commendation. I know there are certain things that can be done better to even sustain the gains, and I hope going forward, they will do it.

If I were given the chance to rate the government on the economy, I would give it 80%. I know there are more rooms for improvement, but if you look at what they inherited and what they have done so far in less than 13 months, then I think this rating is justified.

As a fan of Oliver Twist, I want more. I want more from the government on improving the economy so the ordinary citizen can have a decent living. Also, if the government can sit with the leaders of the various trade unions and urge their members to check their prices to reflect reality, that would be a big win for them too.

Away from the economy, corruption was perhaps one of the cardinal reasons why the previous government was booted out of power. The level of corruption which was presided over by Akufo-Addo was unprecedented. Virtually all the state agencies which were in charge of corruption issues had ceased to function. The president could not take the bull by the horns and could not crack the whip at his appointees.

In some instances, it was the president who would come and defend any member of his government who was alleged to have been involved in corruption. He was often referred to as the “clearing agent”.

There have been allegations that the Akufo-Addo government engaged in corruption, contributing to public concerns about financial mismanagement.

Some critics felt that efforts to tackle corruption were inadequate and claimed that individuals fighting corruption were unfairly targeted during his term. Consequently, he was sometimes referred to as the “mother serpent of corruption.”

It's been 12 months since Mahama took over as president of the land, and it is surprising that there has not been any corruption scandal yet in his administration.

Do not get worried about the tone of my word “surprising”, because it doesn’t happen often in Ghana. When was the last time a government took over, and one year on, there have not been any alleged corruption scandals? If this has happened, then it means John Mahama is doing something right and that his appointees are listening to him.

Mahama promised us Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) to get us back what was stolen from the previous administration. Though this ORAL has not lived up to its much-anticipated outcome, a lot of people believed it was a good way to go. If the government wants to do better in the next election, then they should be able to recover the loot they promised they would.

The only difficulty I have had with the government is the Nolle prosequi they entered for cases that were ongoing before they took office. Was it because those people were members of his party? Or did they see no merit in those cases?

Apart from that, I think they have done well in just 12 months. I will rate them 75% in the fight against corruption, but there is more room for improvement.

Illegal mining (galamsey) is always an issue that sends a sharp arrow into my spine. This canker has largely been politicized and has succeeded in becoming a partisan matter.

The previous government suffered greatly for not showing enough leadership in fighting it. In fact, there were several reports that implicated his own appointees who were kingpins in the galamsey business.

For a president to put his presidency on the line and to do nothing about it was perhaps the highest level of hypocrisy.

Even though I am not impressed with the government's fight against galamsey in the last year, I do not fault them much because it has just been one year. I am also not oblivious to some of the interventions they have put in place. If not for anything, the repeal of L.I. 2462 was a good move taken by the president and his administration.

This draconian L.I. gave the president the authority to allow people to mine in our forest reserves. You can just imagine what the Akufo-Addo government was doing with the fight against galamsey!

In scoring the president on the fight against illegal mining, I will rate him 60% thus far. If he continues to be transparent about this fight, then I think he will get a better score in my next ratings.

There should be more action than words. This fight should take a different approach. It shouldn’t be business as usual for the government. Even if his party members are involved, he should master the courage to crack the whip.

The judiciary will be my last resort in assessing the president in the last year. In my previous article, “Ghana’s democracy under attack”, I voiced out my displeasure with the president and his government for the way they have attacked the judiciary.

I advised the government to tread cautiously in dealing with the judiciary. I don’t think the president would want to be remembered as someone who was an enemy to the judiciary.

I still maintain that the removal of the Chief Justice by John Dramani Mahama was a bad move for him as a person and bad for his administration. I think he has set out a bad precedent that will be referred to unnecessarily by future governments.

We cannot pretend to have independent arms of government, and yet still the executive thinks they have more power than the rest. When the NDC were in opposition, it waged several wars against the court. Whenever a case did not go their way, they had a name they gave to the court.

The popular one was the “Unanimous FC”. I cannot be convinced that the removal of the Chief Justice was a mere coincidence or due process. This was a well-rehashed and calculated plan that was thought through and was masterfully executed the moment they assumed office.

Giving the president 45% in the way he has dealt with the judiciary is a charitable rating from me. It is said that when it is not broken, do not fix it.

The president has fixed something that was not broken by passing behind the back door in ousting the Chief Justice.