Afenyo Markin: “Ghanaians were not given a reset; (you) were sold a recycled failure…”
Nyaho – Nyaho Tamakloe: “(Mahama) so far, so good”
Odike: “Mahama has done well… the strength of the cedi, by whatever means, is a mark of success.
His Excellency John Dramani Mahama has spent his 120 days as President, and he has spoken; “Building the Ghana we want…our social contract… we have fulfilled them… a lean Cabinet (of 60 men appointed 56)… robust Code of Conduct to instill integrity… prohibition of sale of state assets…, promoting fiscal discipline… scrapping draconian taxes (e-levy, betting tax, emission tax, save COVID tax for particular reasons)… no academic fee policy…, Mahama Cares, free sanitary pads for students…, women’s development bank…, Act 2020 (customs) reviewed to remove the law banning the importation of salvaged vehicles (Thumbs up!), …law on banning mining in forest reserves… investigations into major unresolved criminal cases… (Ayawaso West Wuogon, murder of Ahmed Suale… Techiman South political murders …”, probe into VRA spillage disaster… compensate flood victims (thumbs up!) shake-up of loss-making SOEs…”
Fantastic speech, the NDC would say; 20 out of 25 programmes implemented.
Objective analysts (NDC or NPP) see something positive; signs of commitment on the part of the government.
A grading of between 70% and 80% to Mahama and the NDC. The cedi ($1.00 = GH¢12.50) and they cannot guess where the magic comes from.
Recall the 100 days of Nana Akufo-Addo in 2017: one village, one dam; one district, one factory; one district, one million dollars… On April 17, 2017, he addressed the chiefs and people of Kwahu: “…Before the elections, my opponents criticized most of my campaign promises – They said there was no way I could achieve them, but gradually, we are getting there… The free SHS is starting this September.”
Nana Akufo-Addo was criticized for appointing 110 Ministers, the largest Cabinet in the Fourth Republic. But he told Ghanaians he was in a “hurry” to solve the myriad of problems he had inherited. By the time he was leaving government, he had as many as 125 Ministers, including a plethora of Ministers of State at the Presidency!
But vigilante groups (including the Invincible and Delta Forces) were all over the place forcefully taking over public toilets, toll booths, school feeding programmes; seizing government vehicles used by officials of the previous NDC administration. In one instance, the NPP vigilante (Delta) stormed a Circuit Court in Kumasi and brazenly freed 13 suspects who had earlier attacked the Regional Security Coordinator and driven him out of his office. The hard-working, respectful presiding judge, Mary Senkyire, had to be rescued together with the bailiff and prosecutor by the Police in court.
When told to disband vigilante groups, Kan Dapaah, the National Security Minister argued: “There are no legally registered vigilante groups in this country and for that matter, there are no such groups to be disbanded”.
As to be expected, the Minority Party has given a damning verdict over the NDC claims. Insatiable Afenyo-Markin described Mahama’s 120 days as being full of a “cocktail of broken promises.” Mahama’s government is one of “executive lawlessness” that led to the sacking of numerous public servants and replacing them with persons affiliated with the NDC: We now have two Ghana– one for the NDC and one for other Ghanaians. This was not the reset President Mahama promised Ghanaians…” Included in the basket of failed promises were: the resurgence of power outages (dumsor), failure to implement the 24-hour economy, failure to reduce import duties and failure to tackle illegal mining head-on.
What about the repeal of LI 2462, mining in forest reserves and the restoration of the country’s degraded landscape?
He lamented: “Illegal mining has flourished in the full glare of the President, foreigners involved in galamsey are deported instead of being prosecuted… he (Mahama) has failed to declare a state of emergency” it may sound discordant to the ear of Afenyo-Markin to hear “Police update on galamsey fight: 99 excavators seized, 208 arrested (Daily Graphic: Wednesday May 14, 2025).
Afenyo-Markin reiterated the “plethora of promises”: headline-grabbing pledges (no academic fee for all first-year tertiary students, free tertiary education for persons with disability, free sanitary pads) intended to ease burdens on students and parents. … the supposed reduction in ministerial appointments has little to no impact on the ballooning cost of government…”
With the “success – failure” claims, the ordinary Ghanaian is not given the fair opportunity to draw his own conclusions. Articles 34 to 41 of the 1992 Constitution (The Directive Principles of State Policy), particularly Article 35 clause 2 gives the President a comprehensive charge: “We are watching with “eagle eyes”, because “he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.” (Latin: “ex dolo malo non oritur actio…” or “ex turpi causa non oritur actio”).
And, incredibly, less than a week after Mahama had launched the “Code of Conduct” like Hammurabi’s Code for all government and political appointees, Sammy Gyamfi was caught openly in his own trap! Some say the Law of Karma (cause and effect) by Sadhguru in 1904 had caught up with Sam. What at all is the relationship of Sammy Gyamfi with Patricia Oduro Koranteng Asiama (a.k.a. Nana Agradaa) for Sammy to shower dollars on her?
Here is a fetish priestess – turned – evangelist subjecting NDC to fierce spite during the campaign, and swearing to the heavens that if Mahama won, she would go back to her fetish. So, there aren’t any more “poor” people in NDC? It is like the ordure of a lizard-all black with a white tip!
There are so many questions to ask: Who was filming the encounter? What was the intention of Agradaa (a trap, a setup, an agenda-setting)? Was Sammy Gyamfi charmed by Beelzebub to fall “into temptation?.”
How much was the cash? What was the source?
Has Sammy flouted the laws?: Public Services Act, Foreign Exchange Act 2006, Money Laundering Act, et cetera…
The Code of Conduct talks of A …government with no trace of affluence and lavish lifestyle. Any impact of the “apology” from Sammy for his indiscretion? Why comparing Sammy’s act to Cecilia Dapaah (NPP) who had reported the theft of $1 million by her house-help?
And NPP forgets about the open display (on Television) of gold bars by Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of NPP? Afenyo-Markin was the Board Chairman of ECG and containers stolen at Tema.
The mouth-watering payments made to CEOs. Sammy Gyamfi earns (1). GH¢1.5 million annual salary (GH¢125,000 per month) (2) Clothing 3. Security: 2 officers or GH¢6.000 for each of them (3) Gardener or GH¢4,000 (4) Full medical Cover-CEO, Spouse, five children under 18 years (5) Two company cars Toyota Landcruiser with full maintenance and insurance (6) 1,500 liters of fuel monthly (Vehicles to be sold to CEO…) (7) Paid vacation 30 days (8) Annual Familiarisation Tour, Airfare up to $10,000 annually (9) Business Travel with business class ticket and $2,000 per diem (10) Personal accident law of Kharma and life insurance cover 5 times the CEO’s annual salary.
Who would love to lose all these lovely goodies? Dismissal – No; Suspension-Yes; CEO of Goldbod – No; Another Board-Yes.
