Amidst the worst economic crisis in a generation, John Dramani Mahama was sworn in for a third time as President of Ghana on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. Earlier the same day, new members of Parliament and the Speaker were sworn-in. It is worthy to note that for the first time in history, Ghana got the first female Vice-President, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang. Thousands of Ghanaians who attended the swearing-in ceremony at Independence Square in Accra were jubilant and expectant of better years ahead.

Among the many African leaders who attended the ceremony were Presidents Bola Tinubu of Nigeria, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, William Ruto of Kenya, Joseph Boakai of Liberia, Capt. Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso, and Felix Tshisekedi of Congo.

Mahama, 66, won the presidential election conducted on December 7, 2024. He defeated the then ruling party candidate and immediate past Vice-President, Mahamudu Bawumia. He got 6.3 million votes (56.5 per cent of votes cast) while Bawumia got 4.6 million votes (41 per cent). Mahama’s party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) also won the majority in parliament. Even before the Ghana Electoral Commission announced the official result on December 9, 2024, Bawumia had conceded defeat and congratulated Mahama.

In his victory speech after the election, Mahama said the last eight years under the immediate past President Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had left a scar on the country’s national psyche which might take some time to erase. As he put it, “we want a Ghana that considers the well-being of all her citizens and affords them each the ability to live a life of dignity, a life of limitless opportunity.”

Previously, Mahama was Ghana’s President between 2012 and 2017. He was first sworn-in in 2012 to serve the rest of the term of the late President John Evans Atta Mills who died in July 2012. He later won an election in 2012. But he later turned an opposition leader when he lost to Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2016 election.

With the swearing-in of Mahama, Ghana has joined a few African countries that had smooth elections and transition of power from the ruling party to the opposition party. Some of these countries include Senegal and Liberia. In the presidential election held in 2023 in Liberia, George Weah of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) lost as then incumbent President to the candidate of the Unity Party, Joseph Boakai. Like Ghana’s Vice-President, Weah conceded defeat and congratulated the winner even before the final official result was announced. Unfortunately, the majority of African countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea have sit-tight leaders who manipulate their countries constitution to remain in power.

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Though Nigeria is seen as the giant of Africa, it is yet to get its electoral system right. Elections are manipulated such that the victory of some candidates becomes questionable. The last general election in 2023 was not different as there were serious allegations of rigging, thuggery, vote-buying, violence, intimidation of voters and manipulation of election results. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) capped it with its laxity and incompetence. Many voters were technically disenfranchised either due to some logistics problems or what the electoral umpire called technical glitches. 

Ghana’s credible election and smooth transition to power should serve as a litmus test for Nigeria to strive to right the wrongs in her electoral system.   

Prior to winning the election last December, Mahama, who started his political career as the communications minister, had pledged to tackle Ghana’s economic crisis, corruption and unemployment in the country. Young Ghanaians bought into his campaign promises and returned him to power to right the wrongs in the country, especially the economic crisis.

In his address at his inauguration, Mahama said there was seismic shift happening within the system of global economic dominance. He pledged to focus on economic restoration, good governance and fight against corruption. Now more than ever before, he added, “we need to strengthen our ties with our neighbours to ensure that we are working together to keep our sub-region safe.”

We congratulate Mahama and Ghanaians on this smooth transition of power. They have demonstrated that election is the major power the citizens have against an inept government.

We urge the Nigerian authorities to emulate Ghana and some other West African nations that have had smooth elections and transition of power. Hopefully, INEC would have learnt some lessons from these smaller countries and must ensure that the problems that bedevilled the 2023 elections do not recur in 2027. If Ghana, Liberia and Senegal could get it right, Nigeria has no reason to fail again. We must utilize technology effectively to prevent manipulation of results in our subsequent elections.