FALSE! Mahama has not fulfilled all 25 promises in his 120 days in office

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Claim: Ghanaian President John Mahama says he has fulfilled 25 of his promises to Ghanaians, which were to be achieved within 120 days of taking office.

Verdict: False. DUBAWA’s research showed that President Mahama has not fulfilled all 25 promises in his 120 days in office, as he alleged. While Mr Mahama has fulfilled 19 of the 25 promises, three are in progress, and three have yet to start.

Full Text

Ghana’s President John Mahama has called for the support of citizens as his government lays the relevant structures to boost the country’s economy.

Speaking to Ghanaians on May 7, 2025, Mr Mahama said he had fulfilled 25 of the promises he set out to achieve within 120 days of office.

His promises included nominating the complete list of cabinet ministers for parliamentary approval within the first 14 days of office, constituting the leanest and most efficient government under the fourth republic in his first 90 days, and establishing a robust code of conduct and standards for all government officials.

The other promises were: holding a National Economic Dialogue to discuss the actual state of the economy and prepare a homegrown fiscal consolidation programme to guide the budget, and scrapping the E-levy, COVID levy, 10% levy on bet winnings, and Emissions levy within the first 90 days in office.

See Mahama’s 120-day social contract here.

Reporting on the progress his government has made, President Mahama said he had fulfilled all 25 of his promises to Ghanaians.

“Tonight [Wednesday, May 7, 2025], I am pleased to report to you that we have fulfilled these [25 of his] promises,” he said.

See Mr Mahama’s comment from minutes 39:48 to 39:54 of the video, Accra-based Citi TV posted on YouTube.

The social media data showed that the video had over 4,997 views and 70 likes as of May 7, 2025.

DUBAWA decided to probe the claim the Ghanaian President made as part of its campaign against misinformation and disinformation.

Verification

DUBAWA’s investigations showed that President Mahama did not fulfil all 25 promises in his 120 days in office, as he alleged.

While Mr Mahama has fulfilled 19 of the 25 promises, three are in progress, and three have yet to start.

Among the 19 promises Mr Mahama had fulfilled are:

1. Nominate within the first 14 days the complete list of Cabinet Ministers for parliamentary approval

2. Constitute the LEANEST AND MOST EFFICIENT government under the fourth republic in my first 90 days in office.

3. Establish a robust CODE OF CONDUCT AND STANDARDS for all government officials.

4. Hold a National Economic Dialogue to discuss the actual state of the economy and prepare a homegrown fiscal consolidation programme to guide the budget.

5. Draft the needed legal amendments and prepare to implement the 24-hour economy policy under the Office of the President.

6. Establish an Accelerated Export Development Council (AEDC) to promote exports as part of a broader strategy for economic transformation.

7. Convene a national consultative conference on EDUCATION to build consensus on needed improvements to the sector.

However, three of the promises are in progress, and they are:

(a) Within my first 90 days in office, scrap the following draconian taxes to alleviate hardships and ease the high cost of doing business: E-levy, COVID levy, 10% levy on bet winnings, and Emissions levy.

(b) Establish inquiries into major issues such as the collapse of the banking sector, illegal money printing, the COVID-19 expenditure scandal, the Ambulance Spare parts deal, the Agyapa, SML, and the Sky Train deal, among others.

(c) Ban illegal and new mining activities in forest reserves. Roll out our ‘Tree for Life’ and Blue Water Initiative’ to heal and sustainably harness the environment by turning areas and water bodies degraded by illegal mining into economic and ecological recovery hubs.

Although the E-Levy, 10% levy on betting winnings, and the Emission levy have been cancelled as promised, the COVID-19 Levy is still in place.

Touching on this, Mr Mahama explained:

“We have delivered on three of these four specific tax repeals. The COVID-Levy has intricate linkages to the existing IMF programme. As a value-added tax, we have agreed with our multilateral partners to include it in our overall VAT rationalisation exercise scheduled for September this year [2025].”

The Ghanaian President’s comment is from minutes 7:38 to 8:00 of the video, Accra-based Citi TV posted on YouTube.

Again, the government has not banned illegal mining as promised despite rolling out some interventions such as the Blue Water Initiative to protect the country’s water bodies from destructive activities.

DUBAWA’s research showed that a bill to amend the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, 2022 (L.I. 2462) to ban mining in Ghana’s forest reserves is currently before Parliament.

However, DUBAWA’s investigations showed that these three promises have yet to start despite the assurance that they will be fulfilled in 120 days.

(a) Commence the distribution of free sanitary pads to female students in primary and secondary schools.

(b) Lay before parliament a new bill to streamline government scholarship administration, prohibit political appointees from accessing government scholarships, and eliminate political patronage, cronyism, nepotism, and corruption in awarding government scholarships.

(c) Shake up all loss-making State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and realign them to break even and transition into profit-making.

Despite launching the free sanitary pad initiative to benefit Ghanaian girls in primary and secondary schools, distribution has not commenced yet.

Explaining the situation to Ghanaians, Mr Mahama said:

“Procurement is ongoing for over 6 million sanitary pads, with each student receiving three packets per term at the basic level and four packets per semester at the secondary level. Distribution will be done through the Ghana Education Service structure to all 261 districts, ensuring that no beneficiary is left out. The distribution will be accompanied by health education.”

Please find Mr Mahama’s comment from minutes 20:14 to 20:44 of the video, Accra-based Citi TV posted on YouTube.

Similarly, the bill to streamline scholarship administration has not been laid before Parliament, although the President said the Cabinet has approved it.

“[The] Government has given policy approval for the new scholarship authority bill to be laid before Parliament to fulfil this promise. I hope Parliament will consider and pass this bill expeditiously when it resumes,” the President said.

Please find the President’s comment from minutes 27:35 to 27:47 of the video, Accra-based Citi TV posted on YouTube.