On January 7, 2025, President Mahama was sworn in to serve his second term in office as the President of Ghana. He got an overwhelming 56.42 percent endorsement in the 2024 elections because many Ghanaians believe the economy was badly managed by the previous administration led by President Nana Addo and his Vice President and NPP Flag bearer, Dr. Bawumia.
In fact, Dr. Bawumia did not mince words when he confirmed the above reason for their sack in office saying; “when you study all the reports we have so far, certain factors were highlighted. These include the high cost of living; the prices of goods and services went up and left many Ghanaians struggling. Another factor that was highlighted is the arrogance of power, we were not willing to listen.”
He added that unconscionable borrowing led to a debt default where many Ghanaians – majority of whom pensioners – were denied their interest and principals for purchasing government securities.
Not all, the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy), Covid Levy and several other nuisance taxes were forced on Ghanaians despite unmeasurable resistance. Only arrogance of power can let these succeed and Dr. Bawumia was right. These and many more got the New Patriotic Party (NPP) suffer its heaviest defeat in the 21st century.
President Mahama during the 2024 election campaign promised to scrap these nuisance taxes above and rightly did so in his first budget to parliament. The E-Levy which was a major concern to majority of Ghanaians was taken out of the books. It was cancelled along with four other taxes including the 10 percent withholding tax on bet winnings; the Emission Levy on industries and vehicles; the Value Added Tax (VAT) on motor vehicle insurance policy, and the 1.5 percent withholding tax on unprocessed gold by small-scale miners.
Truth be told, the E-Levy was a ‘nonsense.’ There is no where in the world where one incures a tax expenditure for paying tax but one pays E-Levy for paying tax in Ghana.
For instance, per each litre of fuel, we pay 49 pesewas for Energy debt recovery levy; 1 pesewa for Energy fund levy; 14 pesewas for Price stabilization levy; 10 pesewas for Sanitation and polution levy; 46 pesewas for Special petroleum fund; 20 pesewas for Energy sector recovery levy; 48 pesewas for Road fund; 9 pesewas for Fuel marking levy; 26 pesewas for primary distribution margin and 12 pesewas for BOST margin. All these amount to GH¢2.35 per litre of fuel.
Clearly, a consumer who buys fuel and chooses to pay through Mobile Money (MoMo) must necessarily pay all the levies above and will also have to be charged one percent as E-Levy on these petroleum levies. For instance, if one buys 100 litres of fuel, he will pay GH¢235 as petroleum levies and a further GH¢2.35 as E-Levy. How does this make sense. No wonder the hardships were real.
By abolishing E-Levy, President Mahama ensured that the Ghanaian worker is not taxed further on their net salaries through MoMo transfers. This secured one percent of their net salary for them.
Again, the removal of the Emission Levy on industries and vehicles and the VAT on motor vehicle insurance policy has stabilized prices in the market particularly transport fares and manufactured goods. This is in line with the government’s broader vision to ensure macro economic stability.
Aside the taxes, one thing that was also of a major concern to Ghanaians was high fuel prices. Data from the four major Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) prove the government has done well in managing fuel prices in Ghana.
At the beginning of 2025, GOIL was selling petrol at GH¢14.99 but now GH¢14.50 per litre and diesel was was sold at GH¢15.60 but now GH¢15.30 per litre. Total Energies was selling petrol at GH¢15.50 but now 14.49 per litre and diesel was selling at GH¢15.99 but now GH¢15.20 per litre.
Shell was selling petrol at GH¢15.30 but now GH¢14.50 per litre and diesel was selling at GH¢15.66 but now GH¢15.20 per litre. Star Oil was selling petrol at GH¢14.75 per litre but now GH¢12.99 and diesel at GHȼ14.99 but now GH¢13.99 per litre.
The average reduction in fuel prices of these four companies was about 6.74 percent for petrol and that of diesel was about 4.12 percent. The strong performance of the cedi against major currencies gives a strong indication that fuel prices are expected to drop further. All these efforts reduces the burden of the the Ghanaian worker and the President must be given a clap.
The measures above and many more are giving us a robust economy. This is further evidenced by the fact that inflation has slowed from 23.8 percent in December, 2024 to 22.4 percent in March 2025. The end year inflation target has also been revised from 16 percent to 12 percent.
We must also remember that President Mahama took it upon himself to negotiate and plead on Labour to accept a 10 percent increase in base pay. This is historic because no sitting president has ever shown this enormous respect for Labour. It was therefore not surprising that they did not push further but to accept the 10 percent offer.
Today, Labour is proud President Mahama did not fail them. He cushioned their pockets by implementing the 10 percent increase in their salaries and also further ensuring that by the end of 2025, their pain – in terms of general price increases – is reduced by 11.8 percent. In totallity, the wellbeing of the ordinary Ghanaian worker is enhanced by 21.8 percent. This is the President we want.
President Mahama is not perfect but he certainly provided the leadership we missed for 8 years. He is not perfect but he scrapped unconscionable taxes especially, the E-Levy. He is not perfect but he gave us 10 percent pay rise despite inheriting the worse economy ever in the history of Ghana. He is not perfect but he gave us a low inflation rate of 22.4 percent and projected to end 2025 at 12 percent. He is not perfect but he gave us price stability. He is not perfect but he is modesty. He is not perfect but he is building a resilient and a robust economy for sustainable development.
It has never been possible for any government to satisfy the insatiable demands of Labour but the macho performance of the government must spur workers to work hard to improve productivity to create a prosperous nation for all of us to enjoy. President Mahama is certainly the President we want and we need to support him to build the Ghana we want.
