Mr. John Dramani Mahama was sworn into office on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. In less than twenty-four hours, his first set of appointments were announced. Barely three days later, the names of three proposed ministers was also announced. In less than a week, he announced that he was going to rationalize the ministries from thirty to twenty-three.
Compared to all the presidents preceding him in the 4th Republic, Mr. Mahama seems to be moving at commendable pace. And most of these decisions are sound. For instance, there has been very little public backlash in terms of those appointed. Many of them are known entities, with established record in public life. Compared to the first list of appointees by ex-President Akufo-Addo under similar circumstances in 2017, we are not hearing many people casting about asking in consternation who these appointees are. That is sound.
But we also have reasons to be asking very genuine questions as to some of the decisions and postures of the new administration.
For instance, we have heard that the government is thinking of introducing an additional holiday for our Muslim community.
First, for a nation that is perpetually in debt, one would have thought that a government coming to power on the back of a promise to create an economy that operates for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to find out how it can work to redeem some holidays and make them working days, instead of vice versa. I think that Mr. Mahama should go back on this again.
I have also read that Mr. Mahama has stated that he would initiate talks with the Bank of Ghana on how we can include Islamic borrowing practices into our banking. Surely, in terms of banking, it is up to the banks to decide the principles they would use, and not for the Central Bank to direct them as to the nature or style of the loans they would grant.
Unless, of course, Mr. Mahama is thinking along the lines of employing State resources to establish an Islamic bank, whereupon I would say to him that Ghana is a secular State, ruled neither with Christian nor Islamic principles. Our 1992 Constitution is quite clear on that, and any such move is likely to face a challenge in the courts. It is of course not surprising that Mr. Mahama is making a statement about Islamic banking practices, since, a few days before, we had read some scholar declaiming on a popular website that he believes that that is the way to go. I believe that there are some banks in the system run by Muslims, just as there are banks owned and operated by Christians. If they believe that their religious beliefs should serve as the principles of their banks, so be it. But certainly not with the money or resources of secular Ghana.
Another decision that is problematic is the creation of Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL). This has been constituted into a committee of some that is now going about, interfering in the affairs of governmental institutions. To my mind, and I believe the law, Ghana is governed by a Constitution, which has clearly spelt out systems by which public systems are to be held accountable. And a committee to recover loot, is definitely not one of them.
To my mind, it is quite possible that Ghana has been looted. In fact, I am firmly of the mind that Ghana has been looted. A study of the Audit Reports of every year since we began audit, which predates the 1992 Constitution, set out mathematically the facts of this looting, which could even be the tip of the iceberg. But these Audit Reports come from a recognized state agency, the Audit Service and the Auditor-General. This ensures due process and allowing the systems to work. It is certainly not some spurious entity with no accountable systems such as ORAL.
If Mr. Mahama wishes to recover loot, he can conveniently start with the Audit reports of various years, preferably since 1992. Otherwise, his ORAL is just a witch-hunt.
Mr. Mahama would do well to decommission this enterprise, otherwise!
Finally, now that he has nominated somebody to be the Attorney-General, he needs to look again at his appointment of a ‘Legal Advisor to himself as the President’. The Constitution is clear that the President is the head of government, and the government is to take legal advice from the Attorney-General. So where does the ‘Legal Advisor to the President’ come in?
In discussions elsewhere, somebody retorted that Akufo-Addo had just an advisor in the person of Kow Essuman Esquire. This is true. I do not doubt that when it comes to precedent, that Mr. Mahama would publicly admit that he is going to Mr. Akufo-Addo for best practices. His posture thus far, does not indicate so. So I do not expect that he would use that justification to hold up his appointment.
Or he will? It remains to be seen.
Have a great week. And happy New Year!
(PERISCOPE DEPTH of Monday, 13th January, 2025. PERISCOPE DEPTH is published every Monday in the Daily Searchlight).
