A photo collage of Professor Gyampo [L] and Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko

The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers Authority, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has cautioned President John Dramani Mahama not to be swayed by recent praises from individuals who previously criticised him.

According to Professor Gyampo, some of Mahama’s fiercest critics have now turned around to heap praises on him, a gesture he believes should not distract the President or derail the efforts of the anti-corruption task force, Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL).

Speaking on a panel discussion on TV3 on June 21, 2025, Prof Gyampo emphasised that regardless of the public accolades, ORAL must stay committed to its mandate of retrieving illegally acquired assets.

“All of a sudden, President Mahama is being showered with accolades from people who had once severely criticised him. Now he is being told that he is the most prepared president in Ghana. Some are saying that Ato Forson is the smartest Minister of Finance we have ever had. Some people are saying all manner of things.

“But I want to say that look, whether Mahama’s accolades are touted or not the reports of ORAL will be implemented, and nobody will be made to live in a fool’s paradise.

“If something is good, but the point is that we tell President Mahama that regardless of whatever people say about him, that he is doing well, that he is the most prepared president.

“Now people have started taking to a certain posture and it is curious, and I am surprised but we are saying that look, we will collect our money.

“Wherever monies have been kept, we will collect our money. Even if you praise him or you don’t praise him, the right thing would be done and it’s important that we put this on record and we let President Mahama know that he should not be swayed.

“Attorney General, all of you don’t be swayed by all this thing, let us go and get to the bottom of every matter that is being investigated regardless of whoever that is involved.”

Prof Gyampo’s comments follow remarks made by New Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwart Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, who recently described President John Mahama as the most prepared leader in Ghana’s political history.

Speaking on Asaase Radio on June 16, 2025, Otchere-Darko highlighted Mahama’s unique career trajectory, which spans from serving as an assemblyman to becoming Vice President, President, and now again a presidential candidate.

“I think the current president is probably the most prepared president we have had. From assemblyman all the way to where he is now, Vice President, President, you have been in opposition, seen who your real friends are, learned from your mistakes, identified missed opportunities, and now you’ve been given another chance,” Otchere-Darko stated.

However, he also issued a word of caution, noting that Mahama faces immense pressure to fulfill campaign promises, particularly those directed at Ghana’s youth.

“The youth are unforgiving. They want jobs. They voted for you because they expect their aspirations to be met through your 24-hour economy policy and other promises. Satisfying them in this era of social and new media where every government action is magnified is a huge challenge,” he noted.

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Ghana’s democracy is not simply underperforming; it is unravelling exactly as it was designed to fail the people.

That is the assessment of Yaw Nsarkoh, former Executive Vice President of Unilever Ghana and Nigeria.

Speaking on PM Express on JoyNews after delivering a public lecture at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences titled “Iniquities of Iniquity in Our Santa Claus Democracy”, he warned that the country’s political decay is no accident.

It is the product of a carefully maintained system that rewards secrecy, monetisation, and manipulation over accountability, he stated.

“We are in a public auction,” Mr Nsarkoh said bluntly. “This is not democratic participation. It is the electorate being reduced to a transaction—bought and sold every four years.”

His argument is as provocative as it is sobering.

According to him, Ghana’s transition to democracy was not a bold leap of principle but a cautious sidestep.

Citing the late political economist Claude Ake, Nsarkoh described it as a “reluctant transition.”

The democratic space, he argued, was only opened “just a little bit” to give the illusion of freedom while keeping real power unaccountable.

“We opened up space so that we could say the forms of democracy were in place,” Nsarkoh said.

“That’s why the institutional frameworks, for example, to track fund flows in politics, are almost non-existent.”

He believes this deliberate gap in transparency lies at the root of what he called “the iniquities of iniquity”—a cycle of corruption and elite capture that begins with money and ends with broken institutions.

“You are the media guy,” he said to the show’s host. “So let me ask you: how much money did the sitting president spend on his campaign? How much did his main opponent spend? You don’t know. I don’t know. CDD has tried to put out estimates. But how were they calculated? Even that is unclear.”

In other democracies, he noted, political financing is not only tracked but televised, dissected, and debated.

“Even when we sit here, we know the budgets of American presidential candidates. But in our democracy, we don’t know this basic thing.”

That opacity creates the perfect environment for corruption.

“If you and I are in the drug trade, we can carry money in sacks and give it to people who are going to become powerful actors,” he warned.

“We then make demands: put this person here, put that one there. And that’s how the rot starts.”

According to Mr Nsarkoh, this is not just a Ghanaian phenomenon. It is continental.

Countries across Africa that have gone down the same so-called democratic path are seeing the same patterns: a system that allows money to buy power and power to protect money.

“These are systemic defects,” he stressed. “Yes, personalities matter, and they must be held accountable. But when it’s been three and a half decades, and across borders, the same problems persist, then there are design flaws you must confront.”

Yaw Nsarkoh’s central argument is that political decay in Ghana was never the result of an accidental slide. It was baked into the architecture of power from the beginning. A democracy created to serve elites, not citizens.

“In a Santa Claus democracy,” he said, “you cannot track your fund flow. That is the root of all evil.”

He believes the way forward starts with a radical redesign—one that forces transparency into campaign financing, punishes illicit funding sources, and empowers citizens beyond just their votes.

Yaw Nsarkoh paints a grim picture of Ghana: a democracy in name, a market for influence in practice.

“Whether you call it Santa Claus democracy or a public auction,” he said, “it’s not working for the people.”

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

The Ghana Police Service’s Special Anti-Galamsey Task Force has arrested three individuals and seized mining equipment in a crackdown on illegal mining activities in the Central Region.

The coordinated operations took place last Friday at Nikanika and Adeade, according to a press release copied to the Ghana News Agency.

At the Nikanika site, no operators were found; however, the task force retrieved a single-barrel shotgun loaded with a cartridge and three water pumping machines.

“In a related development, the task force extended its operation to Adeade, where three suspects; Prosper Quansah, Chrispin Nartey and Owusu Gambra, were arrested with an excavator on a lowbed trailer,” the statement noted.

“One SANY excavator, four unregistered Haojin motorbikes and one lowbed vehicle with registration number GN 2136-24 were seized from the scene,” it added.

The suspects remain in police custody assisting with investigations, and all recovered items are being held as evidence.

Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, former NPP Chairman for Afigya Kwabre South Constituency

It is the responsibility of NPP constituency executive members to unite and organise efforts to bring people together and build a strong foundation for the party.

They must put in more effort to set aside egos and personal behaviours and work collectively to strengthen the party in preparation for the 2028 elections.

Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, former NPP Chairman for the Afigya Kwabre South Constituency, who made these remarks, said unity should be grounded in teamwork, collaboration, and mutual support to achieve the party’s shared objectives.

Addressing the NPP Constituency Chairmen Caucus in Kumasi, he emphasised the importance of chairmen working closely with other constituency executive members to make the party more attractive to voters.

“We cannot force voters to choose the NPP. What we say and do will attract votes,” he stated.

Odeneho Appiah, who also served as the former Chairman of the Ashanti Regional NPP Constituency Chairmen Caucus, stressed that it was essential for constituency chairmen to remain united in order to overcome challenges, solve problems, and make meaningful progress.

He noted that the party needed practical ideas at all levels to promote fairness, accountability, and transparency, and to unite in the interest of preserving the party’s integrity.

Odeneho Appiah also pointed out that no civilised society has issues with dissenting views, and that democracy must allow space for such perspectives.

He added that constituency chairmen, together with other party executives, have a duty to protect, promote, rebuild, reorganise, and maintain the party’s integrity to enable it to win the 2028 elections.

They must respect and collaborate with everyone to serve the overall interest of the party, noting that when the party’s interest is achieved, individual interests will naturally follow.

He further emphasised the need for constituency chairmen to guide the executive in developing and implementing the party’s strategy, ensuring alignment with party goals and objectives, building strong relationships with all executive members, and supporting informed decision-making.

Odeneho Appiah concluded by stressing the importance of addressing all internal concerns promptly, so the party can focus on strategies that will lead to victory in the 2028 elections.

The Western Central Regional Police Command has commenced investigations into the death of a 19-year-old boy who allegedly committed suicide while in police custody at the Simpa Police Station in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.

Chief Superintendent of Police Kusi Appiah, the Regional Crime Officer for the Western Central Region, confirmed the incident to the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

He said the complainant, Isaac Asare, a small-scale miner, worked with the deceased and that both resided at Simpa.

On Sunday, June 1, 2025, the complainant returned from work and discovered that six blades of gold (value yet to be determined) had been stolen from his room. He suspected Obeng, the deceased, was behind the theft.

Chief Superintendent Kusi Appiah stated that on June 6, 2025, the complainant, with the assistance of a group of people, apprehended Obeng and handed him over to the Simpa Police Station, where he was detained for alleged stealing.

According to him, the deceased admitted to the crime and even led the investigator handling the case to the location where he had allegedly sold the gold. However, the person who had bought the gold was not available at the time.

The Regional Crime Officer reported that on Sunday, June 8, at around 05:00 hours, a non-commissioned officer on duty at the charge office found the deceased hanging from the inner cell gate with a torn piece of the blanket he had been sleeping on.

He said the body of Obeng has since been deposited at the Tarkwa Municipal Hospital mortuary at Bogrekrom for autopsy and preservation.

The demonstration was in response to delayed staff identification numbers and unpaid salaries

A newly trained Ghanaian teacher from the 2022 batch of Colleges of Education graduates has lambasted a police officer for allegedly threatening to assault teachers who staged a protest at the Ghana Education Service (GES) headquarters in Accra on Monday, June 23, 2025.

The demonstration was in response to delayed staff identification numbers and months of unpaid salaries.

According to the frustrated teacher, who hails from the Northern Region and has been working for the GES for the past ten months without pay, the situation has severely affected his livelihood.

He lamented that he is burdened with debts and daily living expenses, making life increasingly difficult.

In a viral video interview, the teacher alleged that a police officer confronted the group during their peaceful picketing and threatened to beat them if they crossed a designated red line.

He expressed outrage over what he perceived as disrespect from the officer, whom he described as having only a Senior High School (SHS) level of education.

“Ten months without salary, do you think you’re the one to teach me what to say? I am from the Northern Region. I didn’t travel all the way to Accra just to make noise. I came because my employer hasn’t paid me, and I’m rightfully complaining. Then you bring in a police officer who claims he will beat us. He said if we cross the red line, he will beat us,” the teacher said.

He continued, “I have gone to university and worked for ten months without pay. I am here to speak up, and you are threatening me? He didn’t speak well. If he thinks he is tough, he should take off the uniform and see what happens. I only respect the uniform,” he added.

The teacher further highlighted the financial struggles many of his colleagues are enduring, “We pay rent, we eat, we owe, and creditors keep calling us to settle our debts. We are simply here to tell our employer our grievances, and instead, you call in the police to threaten us.

“You an SHS-level police officer threatening a university graduate who hasn’t been paid for ten months. If you, as a police officer, go two months without pay, you will form an association and storm this place.”

As part of the picketing, the aggrieved teachers claimed they had submitted a formal letter outlining their concerns and waited at the GES premises for over two hours without any response or engagement from officials.

Tensions escalated when police officers arrived and issued a three-minute ultimatum for the group to disperse. The teachers, however, refused to comply, prompting a forceful removal by the officers.

Undeterred by the incident, the protesters have vowed to intensify their actions. They plan to present a petition to the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday June 24, 2025, before marching to Parliament to press home their demands.

The group maintains that they will not back down until the government addresses their concerns.

An aggrieved teacher who has not been paid for the past ten months, angrily shares his frustration over how police officers drove them out of the GES premises while they were picketing to demand their pay. pic.twitter.com/clPlSHaZh5

— SIKAOFFICIAL🦍 (@SIKAOFFICIAL1) June 23, 2025

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The former Executive Vice President of Unilever Ghana and Nigeria, Yaw Nsarkoh, says Ghana’s experiment with democracy was never real; it was only performative.

He argues that what passes for democratic governance in Ghana is, in fact, a sophisticated illusion—more concerned with optics than substance.

“We never truly transitioned,” he declared on JoyNews’ PM Express on June 23, following his lecture at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences titled Iniquities of Iniquity in Our Santa Claus Democracy.

“It was a reluctant transition. We opened up space just a little bit so that we could say the forms of democracy had been put in place and that we had democratised.”

Nsarkoh’s critique is blistering and rooted in both history and structural realities.

Referencing the late Nigerian political economist Claude Ake, he said Ghana is a textbook case of how African states often liberalise just enough to check boxes, never enough to empower citizens or dismantle entrenched systems of control.

“We’re reduced to voters, not citizens. It’s a public auction for the highest bidder,” he warned.

“You and I could be in the drug trade, carry sacks of cash and sponsor candidates. Once they win, we start making demands. That’s the chain reaction.”

At the heart of his concerns is the near-complete absence of transparency in political financing.

“If I asked you how much money the sitting President spent on his campaign, or how much his main opponent spent, you couldn’t answer. Even as a media person, you don’t know. No one does.”

He contrasted this opacity with mature democracies where campaign fundraising and expenditure are routinely disclosed and scrutinised.

“In the U.S., you’ll hear on TV: this candidate raised this much, that one spent that much. But in Ghana, we’re in the dark. Why?”

According to Mr Nsarkoh, the failure to regulate campaign financing is the “root of all evil” in Ghana’s political ecosystem.

It creates a system where power is captured by money—often illicit money—and the political process is compromised before a single vote is cast.

“People don’t sponsor campaigns out of goodwill. They expect payback. Contracts, positions, and impunity. It’s systemic. We like to name and shame individuals, and that’s fair. But the deeper problem is the design.”

He challenged the very structure of Ghana’s democracy, arguing that after more than three decades, the same foundational flaws continue to replicate themselves.

“Three and a half decades in, and we’re still here. We haven’t built the institutions. We haven’t enforced the rules. We just tweak the faces.”

Nsarkoh’s remarks go beyond critique. They are a call to action. He urged Ghanaians to rethink their role in governance, not just as voters but as participants with a duty to demand transparency and accountability.

“We must move beyond personality politics. These are design issues. It’s time we fixed the system.”

And he warned of the cost of inaction.

“If we keep treating democracy like Santa Claus, where people come bearing gifts and disappear until the next election, we’ll keep having the same problems. Only the faces will change.”

For Mr Nsarkoh, Ghana’s democracy has not failed because of bad people.

He believes it has failed because it was never structurally equipped to succeed. “The forms are there. The substance never came,” he said.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

Former Executive Vice President of Unilever Ghana and Nigeria, Yaw Nsarkoh, has cut to the core of what he sees as a dangerous defect in Ghana’s democratic architecture.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday, June 23, Mr. Nsarkoh did not mince words as he lamented the systemic opacity of political financing in Ghana, saying, “No one knows who funds our presidents.”

“We don’t know how much the sitting president spent on his campaign. We don’t know how much his main opponent spent either,” he said. “These are starting questions. I haven’t even gotten to the source.”

The former Unilever executive’s frustration was palpable.

“In other democracies, these things are known. Even in America, we know how much a presidential candidate raised. Sometimes it’s on TV. You sit there and hear: this person has raised X million dollars,” he said. “Why don’t we know the same in Ghana?”

He linked this democratic blind spot to what he called a “Santa Claus democracy”, a system where elections have become transactional, driven by untraceable money and unchecked influence.

“It’s a public auction for the highest bidder,” he declared. “The electorate is reduced to ballots. They are no longer participants in governance.”

Mr Nsarkoh’s comments came on the heels of his hard-hitting lecture titled “Iniquities of Iniquity in Our Santa Claus Democracy” at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

There, he argued that Ghana’s democratic transition in the early 1990s was reluctant and superficial, referencing the late political scientist Claude Ake’s seminal work The Feasibility of Democracy in Africa.

“Ake used Ghana as an example of a reluctant transition. We opened up space just enough to say the forms of democracy were in place. But the substance? That’s where we’ve failed,” Nsarkoh said.

He blamed the failure to institutionalise political financing as the root of a corrupt ecosystem.

“There are no real frameworks to track political fund flows. That’s why I say this is the root of all evil,” he emphasised.

And the consequences, he warned, are profound.

“If you and I are in the drug trade, we can carry sacks of money and fund people who will become powerful actors. Then the demands start. Put this person here, appoint that person there.

“It doesn’t have to be the candidate who wins—it can be the kingmakers. And once they’re in place, the rot spreads,” he said.

According to Mr Nsarkoh, this is not unique to Ghana.

“These are not just Ghanaian features. These are systemic defects we see across the continent. Yet, instead of confronting the design issues, we personalise the debate. We make it about individuals,” he said.

“Yes, personalities matter. Accountability matters. But after three and a half decades, we must admit the system itself is broken.”

He urged media professionals, civil society, and citizens to demand answers.

“You are the media guy,” he told the host. “You probably have more access than I. But even you, can you tell me where the money came from? That’s the problem.”

To Yaw Nsarkoh, democracy without transparency is democracy in name only.

“If we can’t trace money in politics, then our democracy is not a tool for development. It’s a mechanism for elite enrichment,” he said.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

File photo of an NPP flag

Private legal practitioner, Iddi Muhayu-Deen, has refuted claims that the decision by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to elect the party’s flagbearer before its executives violates the party’s traditional ‘bottom-to-top’ approach.

In a write-up sighted by GhanaWeb, he explained that the election of the flagbearer is distinct from the party’s national and grassroots elections, which are required to follow the ‘bottom-to-top’ approach.

He emphasised that the NEC of the NPP is mandated by the party’s constitution to organise the flagbearership election at any time it deems appropriate.

“The NPP is not, and has never contemplated, changing its traditional approach to electing party executives. Article 5(2) of the NPP Constitution provides the structure and organisation of the party, stating: ‘The Party shall be based on Polling Station, Electoral Area, Constituency, External, Regional, and National Organisations.’

“In line with this, the party has always elected executives starting from the Polling Station level, to the Electoral Area, Constituency, Regional, and then to the National level, that is, the Bottom-to-Top Approach, and will continue to do exactly that. According to the party’s constitution, the position of the Presidential Candidate is not part of the structure and organisation of the party. It is neither at the top nor the bottom because it simply does not fall within the party’s structural framework,” he wrote.

He further explained, “Similarly, the party’s parliamentary primaries to elect parliamentary candidates are also not part of the party’s structural organisation. That is why the National Executive Committee, per Article 12 of the NPP Constitution, can decide to fix any date for parliamentary primaries and has, in fact, almost always scheduled separate dates for primaries in ‘orphan constituencies’ and in constituencies where the party has sitting MPs.”

Read the full write-up below:

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