Can a Leader Start Over? A Powerful Story About Second Chances in Politics, Redemption, and Ghana’s Future, which John Mahama cannot afford to fail.
In Dr. Daniel Appiah-Adjei’s searing theatrical piece ‘’A Virgin Once Again’’, the story of Phina, a woman manipulated, scandalized, and ultimately broken in her bid for social redemption, serves not merely as a moral tale, but as a multi-dimensional allegory for political leadership, postcolonial trauma, and the cultural theatrics of power. Beyond the obvious parallels with the political resurrection of John Dramani Mahama, the play unveils deeper systemic critiques of Ghana’s political order, religious exploitation, and the burdens faced by aspirants who seek to serve the motherland.
Phina is not just Mahama. She is every aspirant who, having once stumbled, attempts to rise again through painful, often humiliating means. She is also every nation-state or institution seeking to reclaim lost dignity through a desperate act of restoration. Her hymenoplasty is not just cosmetic surgery, it is a metaphor for the brutal cost of public reinvention in the face of unforgiving societal norms.
Redemption in Ghanaian Politics: More than Mahama
Mahama’s second coming represents the nation’s test of democratic maturity. Can a people choose experience over novelty, reflection over repetition? As the saying goes, “When leadership learns, a nation rises.” His political re-emergence is not a simple comeback; it is a layered act of self-confrontation to reset Ghana for the benefit of all.
During his first tenure, Mahama wrestled with power outages (dumsor), a sluggish economy, and public trust deficits. Yet even in political fall, he retained an unusual calm, not of surrender, but of studied retreat. He disappeared from power but not from relevance.
The Mahama that re-emerged does so not to reclaim what he lost, but to complete what was unfinished. His 24-Hour Economy policy is a radical departure from past orthodoxy, rooted in the belief that Ghana can no longer afford to rest while opportunity eludes her youth. The One Million Coders initiative signals an ambition to make Ghana not just an importer of technology but a crucible of innovation. His push for a Ministerial Code of Conduct is a bold institutional antidote to the soft impunity that has long plagued executive authority in Ghana.
Perhaps most compelling is Mahama’s commitment to running what he describes as the leanest government under the Fourth Republic. In an era bloated by ministerial appointments, this promise is structural. It suggests a leader determined to govern with fiscal restraint and sharpened accountability.
His call for a Constitutional Reform Committee signals a deeper intention to recalibrate Ghana’s democratic machinery, removing imperial excesses from the executive branch. This complements his responsive economic posture, including a strategic U-turn on controversial fuel tax levies, a sign of leadership that listens before leading.
Mahama’s track record gives a compelling preview. In 2014, he removed CHRAJ Commissioner Lauretta Lamptey after a prima facie case was established over misuse of public funds. In 2025, the appointment of Ann San Dally to the NHIS Board was reversed after fraudulent medical claims. In 2013, Victoria Hammah was dismissed within 24 hours after leaked audio revealed troubling motivations. These were not easy decisions, but they reflected a willingness to enforce accountability within his own circle.
The Bawumia–Agyapong Duel: Purity, Power, and Political Theatre
In the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the internal contest between Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Kennedy Agyapong has laid bare the spectacle of political reinvention under pressure. Both men are engaged in a desperate bid to appear unblemished before a fatigued electorate.
Dr. Bawumia, once the intellectual promise behind Akufo-Addo’s failed economic team, now faces the dilemma of dissociating from a legacy he helped design. His 2014 warning that “If the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you” has become prophetic. Inflation, youth unemployment, and ballooning debt have exposed the brittle fundamentals he once claimed to command. Like Phina, Bawumia must now undergo his own political hymenoplasty, a recalibration of image.
Where Bawumia’s coronation faltered, Agyapong seized the stage. A self-styled crusader against his own party’s corruption, Agyapong has called out shady deals and party cabals. His rage is double-edged, fuelled by principle but undermined by a volatile temperament. Still, his credibility stems from an unapologetic ambition to dismantle what he describes as an entrenched gerontocracy at the heart of the NPP, often symbolized by an Akyem-based elite who treat leadership as divine entitlement.
These men, like Potash and Dan in the play, are driven by conflicting motivations, one technocratic but tainted, the other defiant but combustible. As Potash sought a pure wife to complete his reinvention, Bawumia and Agyapong must now convince the Ghanaian public that they represent a moral reset. A test John Mahama has already passed.
They seek national validation not merely through policy proposals but through the perception of chastity, untainted leadership, virginal in appearance, if not in fact.
Yet ‘’A Virgin Once Again’’ warns that restoration built on concealment rather than contrition risks collapsing under the weight of truth.
Pastor Ponkoda and the Gospel of Opportunism
The comedic but sinister Pastor Ponkoda is a satire of religious opportunists in Ghana. With flamboyant rituals and questionable oils, he epitomizes how religion becomes an instrument of exploitation. Churches become campaign platforms. Prophecies become policy previews. Pastor Ponkoda may speak in tongues, but behind his incantations lies a capitalist cleric who collects exorbitant fees for prayers and blessings.
The saga of Ghana’s National Cathedral, soaked in spiritual rhetoric yet shrouded in financial opacity, reflects this grotesque reality. Over US$58 million of public funds have vanished into a sanctuary that remains incomplete, unevaluated, and unrepented. Not a single prophet foresaw or publicly denounced what is now widely seen as a failed spiritual and financial project.
The Personal Cost of Ambition
The play’s tragic undercurrent is the psychological trauma endured by Phina and Potash. Her body becomes a battlefield of manipulation, surgery, and coercion. Potash, once the object of sympathy, becomes a tyrant shaped by betrayal.
Politics in Ghana is similarly traumatic. Aspirants sacrifice family, savings, and sanity. They endure character assassination, spiritual attacks, and betrayal. The metaphor of Sankofa in the play, “Sankofa is very expensive… physical, spiritual, emotional, and psychological”, uttered by Dan, serves as a rallying cry for those who return to fix what they once failed to build.
The Political Theatre of Redemption
Phina’s desire to reset her story speaks to a cultural obsession with image over substance. Mahama’s return must resist this temptation. His credibility will rest on how deeply he has internalised the lessons of his first term. Can he lead a leaner, more people-centred government? Can he reform NDC politics into a reformed chorus rather than a recycled cast? It is Yes!
This intention is reflected in his choice of a younger, dynamic crop of NDC politicians who are articulate and unafraid to challenge norms. But Mahama must ensure they can also withstand the fire of leadership.
“When the drumbeat changes, the dancer must also change his steps.” (Akan Proverb)
The 2024 election is not a rerun, but a referendum on political maturity. Youth unemployment, economic precarity, and civic disenchantment demand bold, principled steps.
Mahama’s proposed 24-Hour Economy policy promises to unlock industrial capacity, enhance youth employment, and stimulate continuous productivity. The Big Push Agenda aims to catalyse transformation through infrastructure-led stimulus. The Ministerial Code of Conduct signals a turn toward ethics and accountability.
His ambition to digitally leapfrog Ghana’s future is most evident in the One Million Coders initiative. By training a million youth in digital skills, Mahama seeks to reimagine the social contract.
“You must not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with a machete.” (Ghanaian Proverb) This time, reform must be precise, wise, and sincere.
Political Hymenoplasty and the Culture of Reinvention
To be “a virgin once again” in Ghanaian politics is to undergo elaborate image laundering, not for deceit, but to meet public expectations built on illusion. Bawumia must reconstruct from economic collapse. Agyapong must soften his firebrand past. Mahama has revised his legacy. All must perform cleanliness in a system designed to dirty them.
But the play insists, restoration leaves scars. It is the public’s responsibility not just to cheer or sneer, but to interrogate those scars. Is the restoration sincere? Is the comeback strategic? Who paid the price?
Beyond the Curtain: Civic Maturity or Political Pantomime?
A Virgin Once Again is less about Phina’s body and more about society’s soul. It dares us to question why we demand purity when honesty would do. Why we reward optics over substance. Why we shame the fallen but celebrate the fakers.
Redemption is not awarded to the loudest, nor denied to the fallen. It must be earned through confession, competence, and consequence. This is exactly what John Mahama has done.
As we approach Ghana’s next great political performance, let us not merely ask who has the most applause, but who has learned from their last act, and most importantly the actor who can reference the goods acts of his predecessor.
Like Phina, many of our leaders are trying to be “a virgin once again.” The question is, have we the courage to tell the difference between cosmetic repair and moral rebirth?
About the Playwright
Dr. Daniel Appiah-Adjei is a distinguished Ghanaian playwright, academic, and cultural commentator. He is widely respected for his bold, socially charged works that interrogate the intersections of morality, politics, and identity in contemporary African society. With a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies, Dr. Appiah-Adjei’s contributions span the stage, classroom, and public discourse. He is the author of numerous critically acclaimed plays, including A Virgin Once Again, The Last Fools in Paradise, The Queen Must Dance Naked, Sansankroma (The Vessel of Our Destiny), Frema and the Gold-stool, Tweneboa Kodua (The Sacrificial Legend), and The Bleeding Flower, among others. A Virgin Once Again, his most provocative work to date, fuses allegory with realism to challenge the cultural taboos of redemption, power, and public perception.
He also serves as a traditional ruler under the stool name Nana Dr. Appiah-Adjei Mensah Bofotaataa.
