Prof. Mills’ brother worried about rising sycophancy around Mahama

Dr Cadman Atta Mills, brother of late President J.E.A. Mills, has raised concern about the emergence of sycophancy around President-elect John Mahama.

“Already, the signs of sycophancy are starting to rear their ugly heads. It appears that many (people and institutions) are tripping over their feet to please the incoming president and his family, including the suggestion that his son (who has a keen interest in boxing) be made sports minister,” he stated.

In a post on his X account, Dr Cadman Mills stated that a Mahama-led NDC administration is not new to the Ghanaian political scene as it held office from 2013 – 2017. “Ghanaians can hope that this administration will be better than its first incarnation because we are not going back!”

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IS SYCOPHANCY ALREADY RAISING ITS UGLY HEAD?
I need not tell anyone what my political learnings are. I vigorously challenged the NPP candidate’s policy prescriptions for Ghana. I was therefore relieved when he emphatically lost the election. Like all Ghanaians, I celebrated the victory of the NDC and JDM at the polls.

But a JDM-led NDC administration is not new to the Ghanaian political scene: It held office from 2013 – 2017. Ghanaians can hope that this administration will be “better” than its first incarnation (because “we are not going back!” But it is not a foregone conclusion.

But already the signs of sycophancy are starting to rear their ugly heads. It appears that many (people and institutions) are tripping over their feet to please the incoming president and his family, including the suggestion that his son (who has a keen interest in boxing) be made sports minister. There are others. I will identify two.

The ridiculous: A bank (UMB) takes space in a national newspaper to APOLOGIZE to E & P (in which the incoming president’s brother is the main share holder) for not reporting to the credit bureaus that E & P’s indebtedness had been paid off! But is UMB seriously telling Ghanaians that it reported a debt owed by E & P to the credit bureaus but failed to regularly report (update) the outstanding loan balance to these same bureaus? This is impossible! Once a debt has been reported to the credit bureaus, the outstanding (unpaid) balance is regularly reported to the bureaus until the outstanding balance reaches zero and the bank “takes it off its books”. It also means that once a debt has been reported and the subsequent update does not include the debt, it can only mean that the debt has been settled and the credit bureaus will duly take note. There is no fanfare, celebrations, champagne popping, or special alerts to the credit bureaus that “the balance is zero”. So why the “apology”? Why in this case and why now?

The Worrisome: It is particularly alarming that without having served a day in office there are already calls for the constitution to be amended to allow the incoming president to be eligible to contest for an additional term (making a cumulative 12 years, if he wins in 2008). But why? Why in Ghana? Have we not learned anything from the experience of other countries? Please count me as being vigorously opposed to tampering with term-limits for the highest office in the land.