Political analyst Dr. Keskine Owusu Poku has questioned claims that President John Dramani Mahama’s government performed exceptionally well in 2025, arguing that many of the administration’s flagship promises remain unfulfilled one year into its term.
Speaking on Oyerepa TV during a discussion assessing the performance of the Mahama-led government, Dr. Owusu Poku said the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) could not credibly be awarded a 90 per cent performance rating, given prevailing economic and security concerns.
“When you look at the NDC and consider the cost of insecurity in this economy, you cannot give them 90 per cent,” he stated.
Dr. Owusu Poku cited early post-election developments, including alleged struggles over state property, as well as political handling of conflicts in northern Ghana, which he said had economic implications.
“When the NDC newly came to power, we saw people scrambling for government properties. Then we had the issues in the North, where tribal conflicts were politicised. All these things have economic consequences that cannot be ignored,” he said.
Turning to the economy and government policy direction, the political analyst said the administration’s 2025 budget failed to reflect meaningful progress on job creation, one of President Mahama’s key campaign pledges.
“They promised jobs, but we cannot see them. We are still waiting for the 24-hour economy,” he noted.
Dr. Owusu Poku stressed that while campaign promises are expected to be implemented over a four-year term, the government’s flagship 24-hour economy initiative should have shown clear signs of take-off within the first year.
“This is the President’s flagship project for job creation, yet within the first year, we have not seen any signs of it,” he said.
He further questioned the government’s budgetary commitment to the initiative, pointing to inconsistencies between projected costs and allocated funds.
“In the second budget, only about GH¢110 million was allocated to the project, yet the very person put in charge of it says it will require about four billion dollars. That allocation is not even up to 0.03 per cent of what is needed,” he argued.
Dr. Owusu Poku said this disparity undermines claims of strong performance by the government.
“With figures like these, the 90 per cent performance rating being given to the government does not add up,” he added.
He also criticised the lack of visible progress on other employment-related initiatives outlined in the budget, including the Edwumawura project.
“The Edwumawura project is in the budget, but we have not seen anything. I have not seen people applying, and creating a portal does not mean people are being trained for jobs,” he said.
According to him, the government has also gone silent on other major campaign promises.
“We did not heard anything about the one million coders programme in the second budget. The Women’s Bank has also not materialised,” he noted.
Dr. Owusu Poku concluded that the government’s inability to roll out most of its promised programmes within the first year makes high performance ratings unjustifiable.
“If most of the promised projects have not been implemented, then why are we giving the government 90 per cent for its performance in 2025?” he questioned.
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