Mahama returns to office with a sharper focus – Prof Agyeman-Duah

President John Dramani Mahama returned to office with a sharper focus after eight years in opposition, shaped by reflection and hard lessons, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah has said.

Prof Agyeman-Duah made the remarks during a discussion on Starr FM on Friday morning, where he assessed the leadership of President Mahama’s one year in office.

The co-founder of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) argued that the period out of power forced Mahama to reassess his earlier presidency, the country’s development trajectory, and the effectiveness of key public policies.

That process, he noted, has defined the tone and urgency of the current administration.

“The difference is so glaring,” Prof Agyeman-Duah observed. “Those eight years that he was in opposition and struggling to come back must have taught him very good lessons.”

According to him, Mahama used the hiatus to reflect deeply on his first term in office, identifying gaps in governance and areas where policy execution fell short.

That reflection, he stressed, has translated into a more deliberate and structured leadership style.

“I think he did a lot of reflection over his first term and the development and the policies of this whole country, and therefore he came back with a clear vision and a clear agenda to make a difference,” he said.

Prof Agyeman-Duah linked what he described as the president’s renewed decisiveness to the abrupt end of Mahama’s first tenure following the 2016 elections.

He suggested that the experience of losing power mid-stream has influenced the urgency with which the current government is acting.

“The difference we are seeing today is the result of his earlier experience that was truncated by the 2016 elections,” he explained.

The CDD-Ghana co-founder further noted that Mahama appears to have developed a stronger grasp of systemic weaknesses, particularly in economic management and state capacity, and is now more determined to address them.

“He’s recognized the weaknesses in our system, and therefore he’s come back with a clear vision, a clear agenda, and a determination to execute that agenda,” Prof Agyeman-Duah stated.

Pointing to early policy outcomes, he expressed surprise at the pace of economic interventions under the new administration, especially in stabilising the cedi and meeting debt obligations.

“I don’t know of any country that within months is able to stabilise a currency that was in a free fall,” he remarked, adding, “I don’t know any government encumbered by such debt that within one year is able to pay millions of dollars.”