Ghana: ‘I’ve been tried and tested’, says Mahama at 2024 campaign launch

“I have officially joined the race to contest for the flagbearer slot of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2024 elections, which I consider to be the most important and defining poll of our time,” Mahama told a packed auditorium of jubilant party bigwigs and animated supporters gathered in the stronghold of the party, Volta Region – 159-km drive from the capital, Accra.

Having lost the two previous elections (2016 and 2020) to incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo, the 64-year-old said he reflected for months before putting himself up again to lead the largest opposition party in the West African country.

“I have searched my soul and paid close attention to your voices, to your daily struggles, to our present predicament,” said Mahama, popularly called JM.

Experienced need apply

Perhaps the most decorated politician in present-day Ghana, having gone through the ranks from the local government level to an MP, then minister before becoming a vice president and ultimately president in 2012, Mahama has seen it all. “At this stage, Ghana demands experience, not experiments,” he said.

Ghana is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with an annual inflation rate pegged at 53.6% in January, from a more than two-decade high of 54.1% in December. Once touted as the shining star of Africa by the World Bank, Ghana – the world’s second-leading producer of cocoa – is struggling to pay its debts.

The World Bank says the cost of food in Ghana is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, more than doubling in the past year, with a loaf of bread nearly tripling in price. Last year, there were two major protests over the high cost of living and hikes in fuel prices and rent.

Ghana’s last hope in saving a collapsing economy is to secure an International Monetary Fund (IMF) relief support of $3bn to shore up its fast-depleting reserves by the close of March after reaching a staff-level-agreement with the Bretton Woods institution.

At this stage, Ghana demands experience, not experiments.

Mahama said time is running out for his country of more than 30 million people.

“Ghana needs a leader who will hit the ground running on 7 January 2025,” said Mahama, referring to the swearing-in following the 7 December 2024 polls.

“Ghana used to be the shining light on the continent of Africa and I am of the strongest conviction that we can attain those heights again. I believe it and we’ll lead by example.”

Mahama first needs to cross the hurdle of winning the party’s presidential primaries against a former finance minister and governor of the central bank Kwabena Duffuor, a former mayor of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region Kojo Bonsu and a businessman Ernest Kwaku Kobeah.

The internal contest is slated for 13 May 2023 when NDC delegates will meet to elect the presidential candidate in 2024.

NDC’s best bet

Mahama is the most marketable candidate and the best bet for the opposition NDC because of his experience, popularity and record, according to Kwame Asah-Asante, a senior political science lecturer at the University of Ghana.

“He has the experience. His popularity rating is very high and he has a record to stand on as a candidate,” Asah-Asante says.

Mahama’s one-term tenure was plagued with erratic power supply, corruption, scandals and economic mismanagement. Asah-Asante said he needs to go back to the drawing board to right most of the wrongs witnessed in his government.

“I am sure that as an astute politician, he has listened to all the debates and conversations about his second coming. He should be able to do his homework well. He should come out with something new and workable that will resonate with the people and give them hope,” Asah-Asante, who is also the director of the Centre for European Studies at the University of Ghana, tells The Africa Report.

Mahama used his 2024 campaign launch to describe his systematic plan that would make fighting corruption a priority.

“I shall assemble and operate the leanest but most efficient government under our fourth republic. We will reduce, significantly, the size of the government… I will form a government of fewer than 60 ministers and deputy ministers of state,” he said to thunderous applause.

“The time has come for Ghanaians to receive proper accountability from those they elect to political office,” he said, adding that he would investigate how public funds were expended, including the Covid-19 audit and the findings from various Auditor-General reports.

“We must clean the Augean stables and rid them of the filth and corruption,” he said, maintaining that anti-corruption bodies will be given unfettered space to do their work.

“State-owned enterprises will not be a gravy train for political apparatchiks,” Mahama added.

We’re not scared of Mahama

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) remains unfazed by these promises. Peter Mac Manu, the 2020 campaign manager of President Akufo-Addo and a former national chairman of the party tells The Africa Report that Mahama will be the easiest to beat in the elections because he has a bad track record.

“What has he [Mahama] got to offer Ghanaians again?” Manu asked. “We are not scared of him. Check his record: from how he managed the economy to the numerous scandals that hit his government, so abysmal. He has nothing new to offer this country.”