Wednesday, April 16, 2025, marks exactly 100 days since President John Dramani Mahama, together with his vice, Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, we sworn into office after winning the 2024 presidential election.
President Mahama was so confident he was going to win the election that he signed a contract dubbed, “Mahama’s First 120 Days Social Contract with the People of Ghana,” which had a list of things he intended to achieve within the first 120 days of his government.
Aside from the contract, Mahama made a number of promises to the good people of Ghana, which were outlined in his party’s “Resetting Ghana for Jobs, Accountability and Prosperity” manifesto of 2024.
This article looks at some of the key achievements of the Mahama government in its first 100 days, as well as the promises yet to be fulfilled, particularly those captured in the 120-day social contract.
Promises fulfilled in 120-Day Social Contract:
1. President Mahama has achieved his promise to nominate, within the first 14 days, the complete list of cabinet ministers for parliamentary approval.
The president, within the 14 days, nominated a total of 42 ministerial nominees, which included cabinet, non-cabinet and regional ministers.
All of these nominees were vetted and approved in less than a month, which in itself is unprecedented.
2. Mahama also achieved his promise 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.
He established a seven-member National Economic Dialogue Planning Committee led by renowned economist, Dr Ishmael Yamson, which organised the forum from March 3, 2025, to March 4, 2025.
3. Mahama has also fulfilled his promise to convene a national consultative conference on education to build consensus on needed improvements to the sector.
The president established an eight-member committee to oversee the National Education Forum, which will review the educational sector.
The forum was held from February 18, 2025, to February 28, 2025.
4. Mahama also promised to reopen investigations into major unresolved criminal cases, including the 2020 Election killings, Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence, the murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale, and Silas Wulochamey.
He has so far ordered the Inspector General of Police to open investigations into electoral killings that were experienced in the 2020 and 2024 elections.
5. Mahama promised, “Within my first 90 days in office, [I will] 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.”
This promise was achieved after the passage of the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
6. Mahama has also achieved his promise to implement the ‘No-Academic-Fee’ policy for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions — universities, colleges of education, nursing training institutions, etc.
7. He has also fulfilled his promise to introduce the following social interventions: Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disabilities and the Ghana Medical Care Trust (MahamaCares) Fund.
8. Mahama has also achieved his promise to commence the distribution of free sanitary pads to female students in primary and secondary schools.
This was done through the announcement of a certain amount of money to purchase sanitary products, made by the Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
9. He has allocated seed money for the establishment of the Women’s Development Bank, as promised.
10. He has also launched the following priority job creation programmes: the ‘Adwumawura’ Programme, the ‘National Apprenticeship Programme’, and the ‘One Million Coders Programme’.
11. As promised, Mahama has allocated monies to compensate the flood victims, including those in the Oti, Bono East, and Savanna regions.
Other achievements not listed in the social contract:
1. The president has 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 two factions in the longstanding chieftaincy dispute.
The government has also started a mediation process on the conflict, which is being led by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
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.
Parliament has passed a bill establishing the board, which has made it the only agency to deal in the trading of gold in the country.
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 averted a looming food crisis in the country’s secondary schools by ensuring that food stored at warehouses at Tema was released to various Senior High Schools.
9. He has also halted the use of public funds for the National Cathedral project and dissolved the Board of Trustees of the cathedral.
10. His government also tightened surveillance at markets and gave directives to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to locate and work on fire tenders closer to all markets in the country.
11. The president, according to Edudzi Tameklo and Beatrice Annan, two close persons to the presidency, has united the 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.
The report of the committee has been presented to the Attorney General, and so far, about 70 people have either been arrested or interrogated for their involvements in the 280 cases of corruption the committee gathered.
Social contract promises that have been missed or are yet to be fulfilled
1. The president promised to constitute the “Leanest and Most Efficient” government under the 4th Republic in his first 90 days in office. This promise is likely to have been missed.
Even though President Mahama is on course to achieve his promise of the leanest government in the history of the 4th Republic of 60 ministers and deputy ministers, his promise to achieve this within 90 days has not been achieved.
There is no indication from the presidency on whether Mahama is no longer going to make ministerial appointments.
Within 30 days of his government, he appointed 56 ministerial and deputy ministerial nominees (23 ministers, 16 regional ministers, 13 deputy ministers and 4 ministers of state).
46 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.
2. He also promised to commence drafting needed legal amendments and prepare for implementing the 24-Hour Economy Policy under the Office of the President.
This promise is yet to be achieved, even though President Mahama has appointed former presidential hopeful, Augustus Goosie Tanoh, as the Presidential Advisor for the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development.
3. 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.
This promise has been partially achieved because, even though the president issued a directive, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for the immediate halt of illegal mining activities in forests and water bodies and launched the Tree for Life and Blue Water Initiative, he has not repealed the law on mining in forest reserves, which will completely outlaw the practice that was allowed by the previous government.
4. President Mahama is also yet to fulfil his promise to establish a robust “Code of Conduct and Standards” for all government officials.
5. The president has also failed to “Within my first 90 days in office, review taxes and levies on vehicles and equipment imported into the country for industrial and agricultural purposes.”
6. Mahama has also not achieved his promise to establish an Accelerated Export Development Council (AEDC) to promote exports as part of a broader strategy for economic transformation.
7. The president is also yet to 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, as he promised.
8. He has also not instituted a government policy banning political appointees from purchasing state assets.
9. He also has not commenced 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.
10. Mahama has also not laid 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.
11. He has not launched ‘The Black Star Experience’ initiative as Ghana’s flagship culture, arts, and tourism brand to transform Ghana into a preferred tourism destination.
12. His promise to commence investigative processes to purge state security agencies of all militia and vigilante elements is also yet to be fulfilled.
13. He has also not initiated 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.
14. The promise to carry out a shake-up of all loss-making SOEs and realign them to break even and transition into profit-making is also yet to be achieved.
BAI/AE
Ever heard of a colonial fort with a children’s dungeon and a unique shrine for the slaves? Find out the details with Etsey Atisu as he toured Fort William at Anomabo below:
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