Ghana’s new old president, John Mahama, grapples with the legacy of his predecessors

 

By Lord Fiifi Quayle, 6 October 2025

ACCRA

IN THE SWELTERING heat of December 2024, Ghanaians delivered a verdict that was as much a rejection as it was an appointment. Nana Akufo-Addo, the sitting president and standard-bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was defeated by his old rival, John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Mr. Mahama’s return to the Jubilee House, a feat few thought possible after his loss in 2016, was less a ringing endorsement of his own platform and more a visceral cry of “enough” from an electorate battered by economic headwinds. The new president, who once promised a “Ghana we can believe in,” now presides over a nation suffering the costs of the previous government’s decisions even as he struggles to contain new crises of his own.

The NPP’s defeat was not sudden, but a slow-burning fuse lit years earlier. When Mr. Akufo-Addo took office in 2017, he inherited an economy requiring an IMF bailout. He vowed to move “Ghana Beyond Aid,” and for a time, the economy sparkled. Growth was robust, and flagship programmes like free secondary education (Free SHS) were popular. But this expansion was built on shaky foundations, fuelled by a debt binge that saw public debt balloon from 56% of GDP in 2016 to over 90% by 2022. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine were the external shocks that exposed this fragility, but the roots of the crisis were domestic. Profligate spending, particularly on a bloated public sector and expensive energy contracts, drained state coffers. By 2023, Ghana was back in the clutches of the IMF, securing a $3bn bailout that came with strict austerity conditions. For ordinary Ghanaians, this translated into a brutal cost of living crisis. Inflation soared, the cedi tumbled, and the dream of prosperity felt further away than ever.

A Bittersweet Harvest

Eight months into his new term, President Mahama’s administration is reaping a bittersweet harvest. On one hand, his team has steadied the macroeconomic ship, no small feat. Inflation has been wrestled into single digits, a dramatic improvement from the dizzying heights of 2023. The Bank of Ghana, after recording significant losses, has returned to profitability, a sign of returning stability in the financial sector. The cedi, while still volatile, has been contained within a trading range of 10 to 12 to the dollar, a marked improvement from its previous freefall.

Yet, these technical successes are proving a hard sell on the streets. The fiscal discipline required to achieve them is now causing its own political backlash. Thousands of teachers and health workers, hastily recruited by the previous administration in what was widely seen as an election-year gambit, are now demonstrating. They have not been paid for ten months, a consequence of the Mahama government’s audit of what it calls the NPP’s “bloated and irregular” public-sector payroll. The very austerity Mr. Mahama was elected to mitigate is now being implemented by his own hands.

New Crises, Old Problems

Meanwhile, longstanding issues have erupted into full-blown emergencies. The illegal small-scale mining known as *galamsey*, a persistent problem under both parties, has reached a catastrophic crescendo. The cocoa-growing heartlands are under threat, and river bodies, the source of drinking water for many communities, run thick with ochre sludge. Public outrage has boiled over, with civil-society groups and traditional leaders demanding the president declare a state of emergency in the mining sector a drastic measure he has so far resisted for fear of its social and economic fallout.

To make matters worse, the public’s faith in Mr. Mahama’s governance is being tested. A flagship initiative, “Operation Recover All,” aimed at retrieving state assets allegedly misappropriated by the previous government, has stumbled out of the gate. Dubbed “ORAL” by a cynical public, the operation has been widely criticized as a partisan witch hunt, long on rhetoric and short on credible, legally sound prosecutions. The disappointment is palpable; having campaigned on accountability, Mr. Mahama now faces accusations of presiding over a vindictive and ineffective exercise.

Mr. Mahama has been here before, but the terrain is more treacherous. In 2012, he inherited an economy reeling from the death of his predecessor. Today, he is a known quantity returning to clean up a mess, constrained by an IMF programme and haunted by the ghosts of administrations past including his own. Ghanaians have shown they are willing to switch drivers when the journey gets rough. Now, President Mahama must prove that his technical competence can translate into tangible relief, and that he can navigate the potholes left by his predecessor without steering the car into another ditch. The cost of previous governments’ decisions is his to pay, and the bill, it seems, is still arriving.

GHANA MUST WORK AGAIN