Mahama is their target, not Sammy Gyamfi – Desmond Darko writes

Ghana has seen this film before. What is unfolding today is neither a spontaneous wave of criticism nor a coincidence of political attacks. It is a familiar script being dusted off and redeployed. Sammy Gyamfi is not the real target. President John Dramani Mahama is. And the playbook in use is the same one historically deployed against Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, later refined against Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, cruelly applied to Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, and successfully executed against Mahama during his first term.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s fall was not accidental. He faced an organised political tradition fundamentally opposed to his vision of state-led development, Pan-Africanism, and economic independence. Unable to defeat him ideologically or electorally, his opponents resorted to sustained political sabotage- parliamentary obstruction, propaganda, and public agitation- designed to make governance impossible and chaos inevitable.

When that failed, collaboration with hostile foreign interests followed. Nkrumah’s Pan-African agenda alarmed Western powers, and local actors eagerly aligned with them. Economic sabotage soon became a weapon: development projects were frustrated, revenues disrupted, and hardship cynically blamed on leadership failure. Regional and ethnic divisions were deliberately inflamed, weakening national cohesion. The campaign ended with the 1966 military–police coup while Nkrumah was on a peace mission abroad.

That same political instinct resurfaced under Jerry John Rawlings. His efforts to restructure the state, discipline elite excess, and assert national control over resources were met with relentless demonisation. He was branded a dictator, economically isolated, and diplomatically targeted. Sanctions and propaganda replaced debate. The objective remained unchanged, to neutralise leaders who threatened entrenched privilege.

Then came Prof. John Evans Atta Mills. Gentle, principled, and self-effacing, he nonetheless endured one of the most vicious periods of political hostility in the Fourth Republic. His legitimacy was questioned, his health cynically politicised, and his calm temperament portrayed as incompetence. Every challenge was exaggerated; every silence was weaponised. The sustained pressure was unrelenting, and Ghana has yet to fully reckon with the toll this hostility took before his untimely death in office.

President Mahama’s first term followed the same script. From 2013 to 2017, his mandate was relentlessly challenged, economic difficulties, many inherited, were personalised, and corruption narratives were amplified, often without substantiation. By 2016, the objective had been achieved: public goodwill had been sufficiently eroded to facilitate a change in government.

Fast forward to 2025. President Mahama’s return to office on 7 January has been marked by extraordinary public approval, driven by decisive leadership, visible policy momentum, and calmer governance within just one year. This resurgence, particularly after eight years of economic hardship under the Akufo-Addo–Bawumia-led NPP government, has unsettled his opponents. Unlike in 2013, direct attacks on President Mahama have proven ineffective, as public comparisons increasingly favour his administration. Consequently, the opposition has shifted tactics to proxy warfare, targeting key actors, poisoning public perception, and manufacturing controversy.

So the strategy has shifted.

The attacks on Sammy Gyamfi Esq., CEO of GoldBod, are not accidental. GoldBod represents state assertiveness, resource nationalism, and economic reform, hallmarks of the Nkrumah tradition. By targeting Gyamfi, the aim is to weaken confidence in President Mahama’s broader agenda, manufacture scandal, and poison the political atmosphere.

But this is 2025, not 1966.

Ghanaians are more aware. The NPP had eight years to govern. What they delivered was economic pain, social distress, and institutional decay. Today, citizens are openly expressing relief at the change in direction.

This is the Nkrumah playbook unfolding once again, political sabotage, propaganda amplification, economic fear-mongering, and personal vilification, now repackaged for the digital age.

History has exposed the tricks. This time, the playbook must fail.

Written by: Desmond Darko
Editor, The Catalyst