I’m a democrat true and true – Mahama rejects allegations of abuse of power

President John Mahama on Wednesday night brushed of concerns he could abuse his authority as president giving his party’s large majority in Parliament and control over the Executive arm.

Responding to a question about whether he believed himself to be Supreme Leader during an engagement with the media, the president quipped, “Do I look like a Supreme Leader?”

Citi FM’s Benard Avle had sought to gauge the president’s view of Ghana’s democracy following the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo.

“I’m a democrat true and true, and when we attained two-thirds of Parliament, I said that we are not going to ride roughshod over the Minority and that we are going to give opportunity for democracy to flourish, and so we don’t intend to use our two-thirds majority to steamroll over our democracy,” he said to journalists.

He said, although Ghanaian voters had elected the ruling National Democratic Congress convincingly, “it wasn’t meant to turn Ghana into a dictatorship”.

The president said his party’s victory was an opportunity to introduce reforms aimed at improving upon Ghana’s democracy.

President Mahama stressed that he had “no plans” of becoming an autocrat while serving in the nation’s highest office.

He pledged that any depreciation of the cedi will be kept within a margin of about 5 percent annually.

President Mahama noted that the cedi had experienced steep fluctuations, including a 25 percent depreciation in the first half of 2024, which created challenges for planning and trade.

He explained that while a stronger cedi had encouraged imports due to cheaper access to dollars, exporters were left dissatisfied as they earned fewer cedis for their exports.

“Every country tries to find a balance where exporters can do good business and importers are not overburdened by high forex rates,” President Mahama said.

He expressed confidence that the cedi was undergoing an adjustment and would eventually settle at a stable rate.

“We’ll make sure that any depreciation that occurs in the value of the cedi is within a margin of about 5 percent per annum. That is what we target,” he emphasized.