Saturday, February 7, marked exactly one month (31 days) since President John Dramani Mahama was sworn into office for an unprecedented second term.
In August 2024, after launching his party’s “Resetting Ghana for Jobs, Accountability and Prosperity” manifesto, Mahama, who was the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), signed a social contract with the people of Ghana.
The contract, which was dubbed, “Mahama’s First 120 Days Social Contract with the People of Ghana,” had a list of things the president intended to achieve within the first 120 days of his government.
Some of the promises on the list, President Mahama indicated, was that he was going to achieve some things in less than a month, with others under 14 days.
This article looks at some of the key achievements of Mahama in his first month in office and how they fall under his 120 Days Social Contract, as well as the promises yet to be fulfilled.
Promises fulfilled:
1. The president promised to nominate, within the first 14 days, the complete list of cabinet ministers for parliamentary approval.
The president has overachieved this promise. This is because the president has not only nominated a total of 42 ministerial nominees, but non-cabinet and regional ministers as well.
All of these nominees were vetted and approved in less than a month, which in itself is unprecedented.
2. The president also promised to constitute the “Leanest and Most Efficient” government under the 4th Republic in his first 90 days in office.
The president appears poised to achieve this promise. Within 30 days of his government, he has appointed 56 ministerial and deputy ministerial nominees (23 ministers, 16 regional ministers, 13 deputy ministers and 4 ministers of state). 42 of the nominees have so far been sworn into office, which means that Mahama is only 4 ministers short of achieving his promise of working with a total of 60 ministers and deputy ministers.
3. Mahama also promised to hold a National Economic Dialogue to discuss the true state of the economy and prepare a homegrown fiscal consolidation programme to guide the budget.
The president also appears to be in line to achieving this promise. He has so far established a seven-member National Economic Dialogue Planning Committee led by renowned economist, Dr Ishmael Yamson, which is expected to present its programme for the dialogue within a month.
4. He also promised to commence drafting needed legal amendments and prepare for implementing the 24-Hour Economy Policy under the Office of the President.
President Mahama achieved this promise with the appointment of former presidential hopeful, Augustus Goosie Tanoh, as the Presidential Advisor for the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development.
5. Mahama also promised to convene a national consultative conference on education to build consensus on needed improvements to the sector.
The president has so far established an eight-member committee to oversee the National Education Forum, which will review the educational sector. The committee is expected to announce the date for the conference within two weeks.
6. Mahama also promised to re-open investigations into major unresolved criminal cases, including the 2020 election killings, Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence, murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale and Silas Wulochamey.
He has so far ordered the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, to open investigations into electoral killings that were seen in the 2020 and 2024 elections.
7. He also promised to ban illegal and new mining activities in forest reserves, and roll out the ‘Tree for Life’ and Blue Water Initiative to heal and sustainably harness the environment by turning areas and water bodies degraded by illegal mining into economic and ecological recovery hubs.
He has so far issued a directive, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for the immediate halt of illegal mining activities in forests and water bodies.
Other achievements not listed in the social contract:
1. The president has also commenced discussions with key stakeholders to restore peace to Bawku. His first task as president was to travel to Bawku and Nalerigu to meet the chiefs of the factions in the longstanding chieftaincy dispute.
2. Mahama has also constituted a committee to set up the Gold Board, whose responsibility would be to formalise the country’s gold trade in order to maximise the benefits the country gets from the trade.
3. He has also set up a tripartite committee to negotiate and determine the minimum wage and base pay of public sector workers.
4. Through the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, the Mahama government has reduced UG residential facility fees from GH¢3,000 to GH¢2,500.
5. The president has further halted the sale of state lands and ordered the Lands Commission to submit a detailed report on state land purchases.
6. The government has also reduced Hajj fares from GH¢75,000 to GH¢62,000 per person.
7. The government has also instituted the National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving Service, which would be on every 1st July, which is also Ghana’s Republic Day.
8. The president also averted a looming food crisis in the country’s secondary schools by ensuring that foods stored at warehouses at Tema were released to various Senior High Schools.
9. The president has also halted the use of public funds for the National Cathedral project.
10. The government also tightened surveillance at markets and given directives to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to locate and work on fire tenders closer to all markets in the country. He also donated GH¢1 million to victims of the recent Kantamanto fire.
11. The president, according to Edudzi Tameklo and Beatrice Annan, two close persons to the presidency, has united chiefs of the Western Region after five years of a divided House of Chiefs. They made this known through posts they each shared on social media.
12. John Dramani Mahama has also constituted the Constitution Review Committee to review the 1992 Constitution.
13. Mahama also formed the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) preparatory committee to gather evidence on state resources that have been stolen by corrupt public officials for further action.
Yet to be fulfilled promises:
1. Establish a robust “Code of Conduct and Standards” for all government officials.
2. Mahama promised to “Within my first 90 days in office, scrap the following draconian taxes to alleviate hardships and ease the high cost of doing business: E-Levy, COVID Levy, 10% Levy on Bet Winnings, and Emissions Levy.
3. Within my first 90 days in office, review taxes and levies on vehicles and equipment imported into the country for industrial and agricultural purposes.
4. Establish an Accelerated Export Development Council (AEDC) to promote exports as part of a broader strategy for economic transformation.
5. Implement the ‘No-Academic-Fee’ policy for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions — universities, colleges of education, nursing training institutions, etc.
6. Introduce the following social interventions: Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disabilities and the Ghana Medical Care Trust (MahamaCares) Fund.
7. Commence the distribution of free sanitary pads to female students in primary and secondary schools.
8. Institute inquiries and/or forensic audits into the following matters of public interest: The collapse of indigenous Ghanaian banks and financial institutions at a supposed cost of GH¢25 billion, illegal printing of money, the US$58 million National Cathedral scandal, illegal and inflated single-sourced contracts, COVID-19 expenditure scandal, PDS, Agyapa, SML, Ambulance spare parts deal, 13th African Games, Sky Train, Pwalugu Dam, Maths Sets, Galamsey Fraud, missing excavators and tricycles, Sputnik-V, BOST scandal, and others…
9. Institute a government policy banning political appointees from purchasing state assets.
10. Allocate seed money for the establishment of the Women’s Development Bank.
11. Launch the following priority job creation programmes in the first budget: the ‘Adwumawura’ Programme, the ‘National Apprenticeship Programme’, and the ‘One Million Coders Programme’.
12. Commence the review of the Customs (Amendment) Act 2020 to scrap the law banning the importation of salvaged vehicles to rescue the local automotive industry at Suame Magazine, Kokompe, Abossey Okai, among others.
13. Lay before Parliament a new bill to streamline government scholarship administration, prohibit political appointees from accessing government scholarships, and eliminate political patronage, cronyism, nepotism, and corruption in awarding government scholarships.
14. Launch ‘The Black Star Experience’ initiative as Ghana’s flagship culture, arts, and tourism brand to transform Ghana into a preferred tourism destination.
15. Commence investigative processes to purge state security agencies of all militia and vigilante elements.
16. Initiate a probe into the man-made disaster caused by the VRA’s spillage from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams that displaced and destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of citizens in the Volta, Eastern, and Greater Accra regions.
17. Initiate immediate steps to compensate the flood victims, including those in the Oti, Bono East, and Savanna regions.
18. Carry out a shakeup of all loss-making SOEs and realign them to break even and transition into profit-making.
BAI/AE
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