“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” – William Shakespeare
“Nusiƒoa me yi nyuie ƒe eƒe fia.” – Ewe Proverb
Last Saturday, December 7, Ghanaians delivered a resounding verdict against the Akufo-Addo administration and his New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Voters emphatically rejected mismanagement, corruption, nepotism, cronyism, and broken promises and elected John Dramani Mahama, president. They also handed his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a sweeping majority in Parliament. Mahama won with 58% of the votes and carried 13 of Ghana’s 16 regions.
No one predicted the wide margins.
The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration crested to power eight years ago on the promises of a new dawn of economic transformation, national renewal from the rampant corruption in the system, and prosperity for long-suffering Ghanaians.
Instead, Akufo-Addo leaves a legacy of disillusionment, intolerable arrogance, and absence of emotional intelligence from an arrogant, egotistical leader who can’t empathize with citizens.
Monumental Disaster is the only way to describe the eight-year tenure of Akufo-Addo. It was like the man existed in a separate universe from his compatriots.
The verdict on Akufo-Addo is damning: Ghanaians roundly rejected him and his party. He was rightly and justifiably punished by angry voters who felt let down by a president who makes beautiful speeches with no intention of improving anything but his bank account and those of his family and cronies.
The NPP’s defeat was inevitable, given its staggering record of corruption, cronyism, tribalism, and state capture.
Under President Akufo-Addo, Ghana elevated governance to a global case study of how political promises could be betrayed, one where impunity was promoted to the level of praxis.
The scandals that engulfed his administration were too numerous, yet justice was elusive. Among Akufo-Addo’s first acts was to bastardize the judiciary by putting his partisans in key positions and telling whoever challenged him to go to court.
Of course, under him, the judiciary has not acquitted itself well.
The Akufo-Addo’s administration will forever be defined by massive corruption; they are plentiful, so we will list the ten most egregious examples that encapsulate why Ghanaians finally said, “Enough is enough”:
1. The PDS Scandal: The fraudulent brazen takeover of Ghana’s power distribution company by the Power Distribution Services (PDS) consortium was emblematic of Akufo-Addo’s penchant for dubious deals. Despite evidence of impropriety, no one was held accountable.
2. The Agyapa Royalties Deal: This was a brazen attempt to mortgage the country’s gold royalty earnings to a shady offshore entity. The scam was so audacious but so ill-thought-out that civil society groups raised alarms and forced a retreat.
3. The Australia Visa Fraud: Ghana suffered global embarrassment when it emerged that top government officials facilitated a visa scandal during the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The nation was outraged, yet those implicated remained in their positions without consequence.
4. The Ameri Deal Renegotiation: The government’s attempt to ostensibly renegotiate the Ameri power plant revealed inflated costs and a lack of transparency.
5. The “Missing” COVID-19 Funds: While Ghanaians lacked access to basic health services during the pandemic, billions allocated for COVID-19 relief disappeared into a black hole of mismanagement and corruption. Again, the perpetrators went scot-free.
6. The National Identification Authority’s Procurement Irregularities: The laudable Ghana’s national identification cards initiative was marred by overpricing and opaque procurement processes leading to massive corruption by Akufo-Addo’s friends and cronies.
7. The BOST Contaminated Fuel Scandal: Despite overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing, no one was prosecuted when it emerged that the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company sold contaminated fuel under suspicious circumstances.
8. The $1 Million Per Constituency Scandal: The government promised “$1 million per constituency”, but the funds were either misappropriated or unaccounted for. Meanwhile, many communities in Ghana remain underdeveloped.
9. The “Double Salary” Controversy: Allegations that MPs of the governing NPP had received double salaries during Akufo-Addo’s first term were swept under the carpet despite its criminal implications.
10. The GHS 500 Million Kroll Scandal: When a report by the Auditor-General exposed irregular payments to Kroll Associates, the government responded with intimidation rather than accountability.
The list above merely scratches the surface of the monumental corruption that took place under Akufo-Addo. There was a time when the country appeared to reel from one case of corruption daily!
Akufo-Addo’s presidency was also tainted by blatant cronyism and tribal favoritism. Key appointments overwhelmingly favored the president’s ethnic group, fostering resentment and division in a country that prides itself on unity. Perhaps more nauseating was the arrogance of officials who haughtily dismissed criticisms as unpatriotic while luxuriating in their opulent privileges.
This sense of entitlement by Akufo-Addo’s officials extended to the management of public funds. Their lavish and opulent lifestyles contrast sharply with the lives of Ghanaians who grappled with rising inflation, unemployment, and deteriorating public services.
The Akufo-Addo government swept into power on the strength of its ambitious promises. Yet, nearly every pledge became a tragicomic farce. Here are some of them:
“One District, One Factory”: A flagship industrialization program that promised a factory in every district failed to materialize, with most projects either nonexistent or non-operational.
“One Village, One Dam”: In the northern regions, supposed irrigation dams turned out to be shallow dugouts incapable of supporting farming communities.
The Dollar Parity Promise: Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, as Vice President, promised to stabilize the cedi and bring it to parity with the dollar. Instead, the Cedi experienced record depreciation, becoming a byword for economic mismanagement.
Accra: The Cleanest City in Africa: Akufo-Addo’s dream of a spotless capital remained a pipe dream. Accra remains plagued by poor waste management and environmental hazards. The perennial flood in the city continues unabated.
The National Cathedral Debacle: Despite billions of cedis spent, the much-touted National Cathedral remains an embarrassing eyesore with only a big gutter in the prime area to show for it.
Ghana Beyond Aid: President Akufo-Addo famously declared his intention to build a “Ghana Beyond Aid.” Instead, his government turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for bailouts and borrowed more than any administration since independence with little to show for it.
Foreign Policy Missteps: Under Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s traditionally Pan-African foreign policy was replaced by a pro-Western stance. The signing of a controversial defense agreement with the United States, allowing the establishment of US military bases in Ghana, marked a low point. This deal alienated Ghana from its African allies, especially those in the ECOWAS region, and sparked widespread public protests, yet the administration remained unapologetic.
Worse still, Akufo-Addo never explained his infatuation with Africa’s colonial masters.
Given the wreckage wrought by Akufo-Addo and his families and cronies, one must commend the bravery of John Mahama for gunning for the presidency.
By any indices we care to use, Ghana is in disarray. The economy is broken; Ghana is a bankrupt country. Typically placid citizens are agitated. A daring state-capture cabal has ruthlessly bastardized the entire system.
The challenges ahead for the president-elect are immense:
1. It’s the economy, stupid! Mahama must move fast to restore fiscal discipline and stabilize Ghana’s debt-ridden economy. How he does it with no money in the kitty will determine how his compatriots rate him.
2. Another critical and urgent task for Mahama is to rebuild national institutions that Akufo-Addo and co. wrecked. The credibility of the judiciary and almost all public institutions has been eroded. Mahama will need to move fast to restore their independence and integrity.
3. Revamping the mining sector: Like in most African countries, Ghana’s extractive industry has been bastardized beyond description. Mahama needs to correct this. Luckily, he can count on people like my friend Andy Kwakuhume and his patriotic comrades, who have produced enough policy papers to help any president who is serious about helping Ghana earn the maximum profit from its natural resources.
4. Unifying the country: Akufo-Addo never hides his deep-rooted tribalism and religious bigotry. Under him, the nation was polarized, with more Ghanaians clinging to and promoting tribal rather than national ethos. His penchant for tribalism and favoritism deepened divisions in the country. Mahama must move fast to arrest the trend. He must cast his net wide and run an inclusive government that will show that every Ghanaian matters regardless of ethnicity or party affiliation.
5. Fulfilling Tangible Promises: Mahama must focus on realistic, achievable goals, unlike his predecessor. The failures of “one district, one factory” and similar grandiose promises by the outgoing president should serve as cautionary tales. Luckily, Mahama was very prudent with his promises this time.
6. Resurrecting industrialization and manufacturing. Although Mahama professed to be a Nkrumahist, we didn’t see much of that in his first term. We hope he will dust off Nkrumah’s development plans and copy his hero’s promotion of indigenous manufacturing and rapid industrialization policies.
7. Under Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s foreign policy was solidly pan-African, so much so that the country was synonymous with Africa. For whatever reasons best known to him, Akufo-Addo promoted an anti-African, pro-Western imperialism policy. Mahama should shift Ghana’s foreign policy to its African roots, prioritizing African unity and resisting neo-colonial influences.
The tasks before President-elect Mahama are daunting, but they should not be insurmountable to a man with his vast experience—he is also the scion of one of the country’s notable political families.
Mahama should know that by voting so overwhelmingly for him, Ghanaians have expressed their desire for change and are ready to support bold, transformative leadership. By so roundly rejecting Akufo-Addo, Ghanaians have demonstrated that they will not tolerate another set of politicians with empty promises and failed governance.
Mahama is a lucky man. Few men have had the opportunity to be trusted by an electorate that twice rejected him after he was voted out of office.
The crown has been handed back to him; how he wears it will determine whether Ghanaians look to the future with hope or despair.
Although there is no more Papa JJ to breathe down his neck, we should all hope that Mr. Mahama’s long tenure in opposition has sobered him sufficiently not to impose on Ghanaians babies with sharp teeth whose only desire in life is a primitive accumulation of wealth looted from state resources and are prepared to drown every constructive criticism in their vituperative verbiage.
©️ Fẹ̀mi Akọ̀mọ̀làfẹ̀
(Farmer, Writer, Published Author, Essayist, and Social Commentator.)
My latest book, From Stamp to Click (it’s still a hello), is published and is available online at:
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