120-day Social Contract: A Look At Mahama’s Fulfilled And Unfulfilled Promises

Ahead of the December 2024 elections, John Dramani Mahama unveiled a list of 25 ambitious pledges he vowed to deliver within his first 120 days if voted into office as president to complete an unprecedented comeback.

The document, titled “Mahama’s First 120 Days: A Social Contract with the People of Ghana”, was released during the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto launch on Saturday, 24 August 2024.

Upon assuming office, President Mahama established the 120-Day Social Contract Task Force, chaired by Dr Valerie Sawyerr, Senior Presidential Advisor on Governmental Affairs, to oversee the implementation of his grand agenda.

Now, four months later, with the 120-day deadline expiring on 7 May, scrutiny and accountability are due.

A detailed assessment reveals that more than two-thirds of the 25 promises have been fully fulfilled, initiated, or are in progress.

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As debates dominate headlines across mainstream media, social platforms, and public discourse, the Presidency has confirmed that Mr Mahama will soon address the nation on the matter.

Before his official update, MyJoyOnline provides a breakdown of completed commitments and pending pledges.

FULFILLED PROMISES WITHIN 120 DAYS

Nominate within the first 14 days the complete list of Cabinet Ministers for parliamentary approval.
Constitute the LEANEST AND MOST EFFICIENT government under the fourth republic in my first 90 days in office.
Establish a robust CODE OF CONDUCT AND STANDARDS for all government officials.
Institute a government policy banning political appointees from purchasing state assets.
Hold a National Economic Dialogue to discuss the true state of the economy and prepare a homegrown fiscal consolidation programme to guide the budget.
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.
Establish an Accelerated Export Development Council (AEDC) to promote exports as part of a broader strategy for economic transformation.
Convene a national consultative conference on EDUCATION to build consensus on needed improvements to the sector.
Implement the ‘No-Academic-Fee’ policy for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions—universities, colleges of education, nursing training institutions, etc.).
Introduce the following social interventions: Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disabilities, the Ghana Medical Care Trust (MahamaCares) Fund.
Commence the distribution of free sanitary pads to female students in primary and secondary schools.
Allocate seed money for the establishment of the Women’s Development Bank.
Launch the following priority job creation programmes in the first budget: ‘Adwumawura’ Programme, ‘National Apprenticeship Programme’ and ‘One Million Coders Programme’.
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.
Launch ‘The Black Star Experience’ initiative as Ghana’s flagship Culture, Arts and Tourism brand to transform Ghana into a preferred tourism destination.
Initiate a probe into the man-made disaster caused by the VRA’s spillage from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams that displaced and destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of citizens in the Volta, Eastern, and Greater Accra.
Initiate immediate steps to compensate the flood victims, including those in the Oti, Bono East and Savanna regions.
Commence drafting needed legal amendments and prepare for implementing the 24-Hour Economy Policy under the Office of the President.
Re-open investigations into major unresolved criminal cases including the 2020 election killings, Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence, murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale and Silas Wulochamey.

UNFULFILLED PROMISES WITHIN 120 DAYS

Within my first 90 days in office, review taxes and levies on vehicles and equipment imported into the country for industrial and agricultural purposes.
Commence the review of the Customs (Amendment) Act 2020 to scrap the law banning the importation of salvaged vehicles to rescue the local automotive industry at Suame Magazine, Kokompe, Abossey Okai, among others.
Commence investigative processes to purge state security agencies of all militia and vigilante elements.
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.
Institute inquiries and/or forensic audits into the following matters of public interest: The collapse of Indigenous Ghanaian banks and financial institutions at a supposed cost of GHS25 billion, illegal printing of money, the US$58 million National Cathedral scandal, illegal and inflated single- sourced contracts, COVID-19 expenditure scandal, PDS, Agyapa, SML, Ambulance spare parts deal, 13th African Games, Sky Train, Pwalugu Dam, Maths Sets, Galamsey Fraud, missing excavators and tricycles, Sputnik-V, BOST Scandal, and others…
Carry out a shakeup of all loss-making SOEs and realign them to break even and transition into profit-making.

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