A Year Of President Mahama Should Be Better Than Akufo-addo's Eight Years - Mr. Benjamin Kofi Quashie

Mr. Benjamin Kofi Quashie, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Council of Elders Chair for South Africa, has praised President Mahama's SONA delivery and frankness, suggesting that President Mahama's one year in office should be better than Akufo-Addo's eight years in office.

In an interview on Joy Prime Morning Show on Friday, 28th February, 2025, he shared his views on President Mahama's '2025 SONA: Assessing Mahama Promises, Plans and Realities'. He emphasized that judging from his frankness and the solutions he proffered, a year of President Mahama in office should be better than Akufo-Addo's 8 years.

Quashie observed that President Mahama has a 120-day social contract with the Ghanaian people, which he would have to account for at the end of it.

"He would be held accountable for the 120 social contracts he signed with the Ghanaian people", He stated, highlighting that Ghanaians should be able to heave a sigh of relief by the end of the year. "We should be able to stabilize the economy, bring inflation down, improve our health conditions, and provide quality healthcare at affordable prices".

He was, however, frank with Ghanaians, averring that with the current debt overhung on the neck of this government, infrastructure development would slow down a bit. Quashie noted "Road contractors haven't been paid for a long time, and it wouldn't be sensible to promise building more roads at this time; we need to work on completing the uncompleted roads", he intimated.

Touching on how to improve investor confidence, Quashie revealed that President Mahama has personally met with the investor community, assuring them of the needed support as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and President of the Republic. He highlighted one astounding feature of President Mahama's leadership style: being personally involved in very important discussions.

"He doesn't leave everything to the ministers; he gets involved to assure those being engaged of the seriousness attached to the negotiations", affirmed Mr. Quashie.

Applauding the president for his ingenuity, the SA Council Chair, noted with the kind of assurance given to the investor community, especially in the energy sector, is worthwhile in ending power outages. This is crucial in driving the government's 24-hour economy agenda, which is yet to be rolled out.

Quashie observed that President Mahama is not vindictive, and with his assurance given to the investor community, he hopes things would get better with time. He emphasized that a sense of media freedom, where people are not gagged, underscores the level of investor confidence in our motherland.

"You would not believe it, but investors take into account press freedom when making investment decisions", he revealed, adding to this, the president has given latitude for criticism and feedback, and that has given some assurance to investors that their concerns would be heard.

In sum, Mr. Quashie reiterated that this is the best SONA he has listened to in a long time, and Ghanaians should look out for a governance style never seen in the Fourth Republic.

As President Mahama has completed his State of the Nation Address and Ghanaians patiently wait for his first budget in his second term, the people can only hope that the budget gives the needed hope and assurance of a brighter future.