President John Mahama
President Mahama promised to reset Ghana during the last general election campaign which he won by a landslide. During the campaign not much was divulged about the resetting agenda and many Ghanaians did not really know what the resetting was all about. However, from recent incidents since the assumption of office and like a jig-saw puzzle, when the pieces of incidents are put together, some form of a picture emerges to suggest that the agenda for the resetting contains some elements of vengeance and vindictiveness. The indications are that certain individuals have been targeted politically for “special treat” and some security institutions, Military, OSP, EOCO etc. have been selected to execute the agenda.
Whilst this persecution is going on, the NDC supporters who are facing criminal charges are being set free by the Attorney General under “nolle prosequi”. Let me remind those who are pursuing the agenda about the law of Karma – “what goes round comes around” and if the political situation should change, they may pass through the same ordeal they are subjecting others to today. Is this how we want to live in this country – vengeance, retaliation etc? The actions taken against some people seem permissible, but what we are seeing is a crude implementation of the laws in favour of NDC supporters and against NPP followers. What is sad is the absolute silence of the Presidency to these incidents which are obviously infringing on the rights of individuals with impunity and a return to the arbitrariness of the revolutionary days.
It is observed that the Presidents’ landslide victory was based on his populist promises to reverse the economic hardships Ghanaians were facing to a lesser economic challenge. Some of the promises of removing the e-levy and game taxes have been done but promises of selling fuel GH¢6.00 per litre, GH¢25.00 for a bag of cement, a ball of kenkey for GH¢1.00 are hoax. The cost of some items complained about during the campaign is still high and, in some cases, still rising. The abolished E-levy has been re-introduced “nicodemously” as the Petroleum Tax or “dumsor” levy. From Dr. Bawumia the tax of GH¢1.00 per litre of fuel is about EIGHT times the E-levy and crueller than the abolished E-levy.
I acknowledge that the regime has just been in office for about seven months and needs more time to fulfil its promises. Unfortunately, the observations cannot wait because the direction and method of governance is becoming worrying if not embarrassing. The Cedi has appreciated significantly against the dollar over the past months, but many banks do not have the dollars to transact foreign business. Customers wishing to send monies abroad to cover their foreign transactions are made to que for weeks without their requests being met. Ghanaians are celebrating the cedi appreciation but unconscious of its security requirements, have left the borders wide open for citizens of our neighbours- (Ivory Coast, Togo, Nigeria, Burkina, Benin etc.) to exploit the situation to their advantage by turning Ghana into an open Forex Bureaux for the dumping of CFA and Naira.
On hypocrisy, Ghanaians would remember that on the 19th of January 2018, the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare informed Ghanaians that the Vice President Dr. Bawumia had left for London with the second lady, for medical treatment. The NDC, who was then in opposition, made so much ugly noises as if it has never happened before in Ghana. The travel to London was criticised, the medical attention being sought was questioned, the cost of treatment unknown became an issue and the “babies with sharp teeth” had a field day.
The problem of not creating modern medical facilities in Ghana for Government officials to avail themselves to save the country the much-needed foreign currency to improve the economy were raised by the NDC. The NPP was painted as very insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians and these reasons and others were splashed everywhere as the cause of our economic problems. As usual, former President Akufo-Addo received a lot of bashing, and the effort made to save the life of the Vice President was not an issue worth considering.
Recently, the Vice President Naana Opoku-Agyeman was flown in and out of the country for medical treatment. The sad part of it was that Ghanaians did not know where the Vice President was flown to and information about her treatment and ailments were hidden from the taxpayer whose money was spent. The NDC is silent on the cost of her expensive charter flights in and out of the country and “angels” like Okudzeto Ablakwa and Sammy Gyamfi are pretending they know nothing.
In the resettling of the Armed Forces, President John Mahama on the 24th March 2025 retired all the five top Armed Forces military Officers without any reason for the action. The retired Officers who were all appointed by ex-President Akuffo-Addo were, the CDS- Chief of Defence Staff- General Thomas Oppong Pepprah, (on 1st February 2024), the Army Chief of Staff Lt-General Bismarck Kwasi Onwona (on 24th February 2024), Chief of Air Staff Air Marshall Fredrick Asare Bekoe (on 26th January 2023), Naval Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Issah Adam Yakubu (on 4th of March 2021) and Chief of Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces Lt General Joseph Prince Osei Owusu on (30th April 2024).
The removal of the Service Chiefs should not create any ripples but when their retirements are done without due consideration to their terms and conditions of service, then something is wrong. Secondly, the removal of all of them at the same time without due regard to their retiring ages is worrying and gives the impression of some wrongdoing. The decision irrespective of explanations, has ulterior motives which are more political and not in the best interest of the country.
By the retirements, some careers have been terminated without justification. Such actions breed mistrust, instability, discontent and undermine loyalty. The Armed Forces have rules and regulations governing career officers to prevent mistrust and ensure fairness in promotion of Officers and this must be respected to ensure stability in the Services. Replacing four-star generals with one-star generals will take some time before experience and efficiency would be restored.
Consequently, efficiency will suffer for a while before the newly promoted generals begin to pick up the pieces. Loyalty can be bought but “true loyalty” takes time to nurture. It is very dangerous to expose loyalty to the highest bidder in the security services and myopically the newly promoted generals donated one month of their salaries to the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (Mahama Cares) for expressing their gratitude to the President for their promotions. Why not donate to the Military Hospital? The demonstration of sycophancy by the Service Chiefs is profoundly serious and has badly exposed them and gravely undermined the trust reposed in them by the Constitution. By their collective action they have authorised the next Government, if not the NDC, the right to dismiss them.
The petitions to remove the Chief Justice (CJ) as leaked, suggests that some charges have been preferred against her. It is alleged that President Akufo-Addo dealt with the case and for lack of evidence dismissed the charges. The courageous fight of the CJ to defend her image and office is highly commended.
The Ablekuma by election held recently demonstrates that the laws of Ghana can be abused with impunity and applied discriminately. There were other incidents elsewhere and the climax was the barbaric assault on Mavis Hawa Koomson in the presence of Police officers. The assault on Madam Hawa was so sad that whilst video recordings by amateur photographers went viral with faces of culprits clearly visible, yet none of the law enforcement agencies present at the scene could identify anyone to arrest and prosecute. If a CJ cannot find justice in her own country and must seek redress from ECOWAS Court, then the enforcement of the law in the country today needs a serious overhaul.
Our democracy depends on the rule of law and the law must be seen to be applied fairly to all Ghanaians irrespective of status in life. If the head of our judicial system can be subjected to this kind of harassment and embarrassment, then Ghanaians must now understand the “resetting” agenda on the judiciary. This is not a threat to the CJ alone but to all Ghanaians, even if you belong to the NDC.
Time will tell.
By: Brig-Gen (Rtd) J. Odei