120 Days In Office: Mahama’s Claim Of Having A Lean Govt Isn’t Entirely True – Dr. George Domfeh
Dr. George Domfeh, a Development Economist, has questioned President John Dramani Mahama’s 120 days in office.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, marked the 120 days since John Dramani Mahama was sworn in as President of Ghana for a new four-year term.
The President in a live telecast listed his achievements within 120 days.
Mahama’s 120 Days’ Achievements
President John Mahama promised a lean government saying “I promised to nominate the complete list of Cabinet Ministers for parliamentary approval within the first 14 days and to constitute the leanest and most efficient government under the Fourth Republic within the first 90 days.
“As promised, I announced the complete list of my cabinet ministers for parliamentary approval
within the first fourteen days of being sworn in. They were all successfully vetted and approved
and have hit the ground running. Indeed, I have appointed only 56 ministers and deputies so
far–the smallest number of ministers and deputies appointed by any government in the Fourth
Republic.”
He added; “We promised to hold a National Economic Dialogue within the first 90 days to understand the true state of our economy and build consensus on the way forward. On March 3rd and 4th, 2025, the Government of Ghana convened the National Economic Dialogue at the Accra International Conference Centre, bringing together partners, including the private sector, civil society organisations, traditional authorities, and academia. The participants presented a comprehensive report with clear recommendations to restore macroeconomic stability and regain confidence.”
President Mahama also stressed he has removed some “draconian taxes” to alleviate the plight of Ghanaians.
“To alleviate hardships and ease the high cost of doing business, I promised to scrap the E-levy,
COVID levy, 10% levy on bet winnings, and the Emissions levy within my first 90 days. These tax
and expenditure measures were central to our 2025 Budget Statement. On April 2, 2025, I signed several bills into law, including the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-LEVY) Repeal Bill 2025, the Emissions Levy Repeal Bill, and the Betting Tax.”
He continued with other achievements, mentioning reviewing taxes on industrial and agricultural imports, 24-hour economy policy and implementing his free tuition fees for fist-year tertiary students.
“The ‘ No-Academic-Fee ‘ policy for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions was a key
promise to ease the burden on families and expand access to higher education. My government has taken concrete steps to implement this. Four hundred and figy-two million, nine hundred and forty thousand and twelve Ghana Cedis (GH¢ 452,940,012.00) has been allocated for the payment of academic facility user fees for one hundred and figy-six thousand, two hundred and ninety-four (156,294) first-year students in public tertiary institutions for the 2025 academic year.”
Dr. Domfeh Scores Mahama
Speaking on Peace FM’s “Kokrokoo” morning show, Dr. George Domfeh took President John Mahama’s words of having a lean government with a pinch of salt.
According to him, the President has not really reduced the size of his government but rather has outsmarted Ghanaians.
He explained that the President knows very well that Ghanaians are more concentrated on the number of ministerial appointees, therefore what he has done is to reduce their number while he appoints presidential staffers to perform similar roles.
He disclosed that the President’s claim of having one Minister for each Region of Ghana is half-truth, revealing he has appointed presidential staffers who are also in charge of the Regions and receiving salaries equivalent to the salaries of Deputy Ministers.
President Mahama knows “the problem of Ghanaians is they don’t like the huge number of Ministers”, hence he “being intelligent has decided he won’t concentrate on the Minister but rather every Ministry will have a presidential staffer,” he stated.
“Now, we have presidential staffer at the Jubilee House in charge of Ashanti Region and we have an Ashanti Regional Minister. This is unprecedented! So, that money that we would have spent on a Deputy Minister is equally almost the same amount we are spending on the presidential staffers”, he added.
Source: Ghmessenger.com
