The parable of Mahama’s Presidency; Embattled but on track

Opinion May - 14 - 2015 , 10:32

When John Dramani Mahama ascended the Presidency on that dreadful day of July 27, 2012, the national mood was understandably a sombre one. Ghana had, for the first time, lost a sitting president. The new president, and by extension the nation, could not celebrate the hurriedly convened swearing-in ceremony.

Fast forward December 9, 2012, the mood was however, of renewed hope and energy when the Electoral Commissioner, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan, declared Mahama the president-elect of the republic. Most Ghanaians yearned for a reduction in partisan bitterness and for united efforts to ensure a better Ghana for all.

How different things are in 2015: In what economists might refer to as the cascading effect, inflation is rising, unemployment is on the increase, the cedi has declined against the major currencies, cost of living is rising, taxes are increasing, utility bills are on the rise and worst still, the lights are hardly turned on now-a-days.

Waning enthusiasm

Certainly, the combined effect of these have dissipated the enthusiasm that greeted Mahama when he stepped out of his official residence at Cantonments on the night of the December 9, 2012 to merrily say “I accept the declaration and verdict of the Electoral Commission with humility and will like to commend all Ghanaians for the confidence they have reposed in me.”

Waning enthusiasm for a president during a national crisis is hardly surprising, though. President George Bush Jnr. went on to win a clear and incontrovertible victory over John Kerry in 2004 after coming under intense public criticism, with the lowest presidential approval rating ever, following the Iraq war of 2003. Yes, there is currently an overwhelming sense of despair brought about by the protracted energy crisis. Everyone is yearning for a quick fix out of this unbearable situation.

Sadly, no one, can short-circuit the Akosombo Dam to rise or the broken thermal plants at Aboadze-Takoradi, else there would not have been a similar experience of load shedding between 2001 and 2008.

It was not striking to some of us that the then New Patriotic Party (NPP), tauted as visionary, did not find it expedient to fix Ghana’s energy supply problems permanently but only managed it with what was termed as ‘toy’ generators.

What is striking however, is the disconnect between assessments of Mahama and his actual record - a President who has, in fact, accomplished significant movement toward his transformative goals in the face of fierce political headwinds, and inherited mounting national difficulties as well as effects of a global economic melt-down – not to mention a protracted court case that consumed significant portion of his first term.

Many, especially in the opposition, are of the mistaken belief that the energy problem is now the new found panacea to the inability of the NPP’s inability to win power to an NPP government. Ironically, the energy crisis - the ‘fixing’ of it - might just turn out to be President Mahama’s best-selling point. Ghanaians could in the long run appreciate the President’s resolve and sense of stoicism in staying put and solving, perhaps, Ghana’s most challenging crisis in the face of what could be classified as the most vituperative attacks on a sitting president.

To a seasoned observer, the blazing opposition to Mahama from the opposition fits a pattern of partisan polarisation deepening since the return to constitutional rule in 1993 and recapitulates the all-out resistance faced by President Liman in the 1980s, when he, like Mahama, came to office amidst disdain and downright envy.

Investing Corruption

Never in the history of Ghana has any president ensured as many intensive investigations into corruption related issues in his government like this president, though he had all the resources at his disposal to go the ‘typical’ African way i.e instruct the security and investigative agencies to sweep the rot as deep as possible under a woollen carpet.

The rot at the National Service Secretariat, for example, has gone on for decades but no previous government had the courage to nib it in the bud. It took a courageous Mahama to sanction a probe and consequently save millions of tax payers’ money.

I need not remind Ghanaians that he did this without throwing a challenge at the citizens to prove the perception of corruption with concrete occurrences as was the case in the past.

Strong critiques of Mahama are not confined to the opposition. Many in the ruling NDC see Mahama's presidency as a profound disappointment too. In fact, we have all criticised the president, from not decisively dealing with people cited in issues of corruption to not booting out perceived non-performing heads of ministries departments and agencies.

This notwithstanding, Mahama's actual record in office is at odds with reactions to his presidency. A cursory look around us confirms that the President has actually fulfilled and is addressing most of the promises he made during the 2012 campaign.

He promised to complete implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure, to revamp the Komenda sugar factory, to kick start the Tema Oil Refinery, all of which he has done: promised to end the energy crisis, which he is working to fulfil by the end of his first term; he promised 200 SHS which is underway; he promised to extend electricity to every nook and crany in the country, which is almost done, he promised a three-tier overpass at the Kwame Nkrumah circle to ease congestion, which is underway; he promised to cut waste and clean the public sector payroll, which he’s doing; he promised a modern hospital facility at the Ridge Hospital, which is underway and the list goes on.

Shortfalls in Mahama’s efforts, such as the decline of the cedi or the high cost of living, are largely attributable to the crisis he has faced and the fierceness of political opposition, including the loss of a one whole year through the election petition.

Any thorough and realistic assessment of President Mahama's achievements and failures must go beyond a focus on his personality and tribal belonging - as some unfortunately do.

Asking relevant questions

Relevant questions must be posed: What happens when a president takes office amidst a gathering economic storm and tries to turn things amidst the muddy seas of political clamouring and non-stop lobbying?

Can any ambitious presidential initiative make headway overnight in an acute, economic crisis brought about by a political standoff?

I do not have the answers but in some ways, it is premature to try to answer such questions and draw conclusions.

Mahama may end up having two terms in which to firm up his record in the Flagstaff House, and whatever happens in the 2016 election, only the fullness of time and the longer perspective of history will allow final answers.

Even in the unlikely event of a loss, Mahama would prove to have set in motion policy shifts that will end up shaping twenty-first-century Ghana: shifts such as the removal of subsidies on public goods and services, investment in our energy mix, etc.

In a sense, grappling with big questions is a much better way in which to probe Mahama's ambitious presidency than by posing simple-minded positions of “success” versus “failure”.

The author is a Communication Specialist and a student of politics.

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