For even the most optimistic pundits who strongly believed John Mahama would win the 2024 election, I am sure most did not envisage the margin of victory.
Speaking for myself, on December 5, 2024, writing for the Centre for International Governance Innovation, I remained cautious about the election outcome and simply said this.
“On December 7, Ghana will hold presidential and parliamentary elections. By conventional wisdom, the economic pinch points felt under Ghana’s ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, the poor assessments of government performance in key policy areas, as well as the governance environment as captured by the three most recent Afrobarometer surveys in
Ghana (2019, 2022 and 2024), all strongly suggest Ghana’s main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, John Dramani Mahama, has the edge.”
Eight years after his defeat after only one term, John Mahama was elected the 6th President of Ghana’s 4th Republic. In his acceptance speech, he said:
“The results as declared by the EC show that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) with me, John Dramani Mahama, as leader, has just chalked one of the most emphatic victories in the electoral history of the Fourth Republic.
We have, therefore, been bestowed with a very outstanding mandate by the good people of Ghana.
There is still time to unpack the election outcome but as I have poured over the election results, the true mood of the electorate has become very clear.
Ghanaians were indeed truly unhappy with the previous administration and turned to the very alternative, John Mahama, whom they had rejected twice (2016 and 2020).
The second presidency begins
The election is over and the governance phase is well underway. As I observe the President’s appointments and public rhetoric, it suggests to me that he is being deliberate about making his second presidency look distinct from the first. I believe the lessons of the first, which resulted in his defeat in 2016 and made him a one-term President, have been well learned.
The goal here is not to evaluate the early days of his second presidency. The 120-day social contract he laid out, I am sure, will be revisited once that period comes to an end.
The goal here is to point out two aspects, specifically, of the current political environment which the second presidency must navigate to govern and tackle different issues.
First, on matters of post-regime accountability, the nation is likely to be subjected to partisan acrimony over the legitimacy or otherwise of efforts to hold members of the previous government accountable for their time in office.
The acrimony may worsen, especially in how the government handles in-regime accountability if its members engage in improper conduct as public officials.
This means a delicate balancing act is needed to navigate this terrain.
The government, by the magnitude of the electoral victory, has been given the mandate by Ghanaians to implement the many things promised during the campaign, one of which is getting the previous administration to give an account of how it managed the nation’s affairs, especially its finances.
I am, therefore, certain that any actions in this direction will have the support of Ghanaians. In doing what is right and necessary, it is equally important that in the eyes of Ghanaians, it is seen to be done right.
The yardstick for making that determination, in my opinion, should not be how it was done by the previous government.
Rather, it should be based on the principles of good governance which I know President Mahama embraces with strong conviction.
Second, is the Ninth Parliament. I have expressed this concern once already after the chaos that erupted at the vetting committee.
Since then, the more I continue to observe happenings and the rhetoric in the chamber, I am left wondering about two things – a) is Parliament as an institution yet to shake off fully, any spillover effects from the Eighth? or b) is what I am observing from afar an extended litigation of the just ended election?
A legislative chamber with members of different political persuasions anywhere in the world will certainly have moments of deep disagreements and heated debates.
However, I am tempted to ask how the current political environment in Parliament will shape executive-legislative cooperation on budget and other policy issues.
In addition, how will it shape parliamentary oversight of the Executive?
I presume citizens will get a good glimpse of what is to come when the President delivers his State of the Nation address on Thursday (Feb 27, 2025), followed by the budget presentation on March 11, 2025, by the finance minister.
I remain optimistic that the trajectory will not continue to be one of increased acrimony and noncooperation, but rather whatever is done will reflect restrained political and administrative temperaments on the part of everyone.
The writer is the Project Director, Democracy Projec
