Musah Superior writes;
BROKEN PROMISES: Part 5
FROM SOAPBOX TO SEAT: NDC’s U-TURN ON “FAMILY AND FRIENDS” APPOINTMENTS.
When in opposition, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) perfected one line of attack against President Akufo-Addo: he was running a “family and friends” government. John Mahama himself accused Akufo-Addo in January 2019 of packing the state with relatives and cronies. Sammy Gyamfi, the NDC’s Communications Officer went further in November 2019; and named alleged nepotistic appointees and demanded anti-nepotism laws.
At the launch of the NDC manifesto in October, 2019, President Mahama declared, “I feel your suffering. I will rescue you from Akufo-Addo’s “family and friends” government.
The National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah was still repeating the charge as late as March 2023, declaring the Akufo-Addo regime a textbook case of “family and friends” politics.
That rhetoric mattered. It suggested the NDC as a principled alternative, promising governance by merit rather than bloodline.
Yet, since returning to power in January 2025, the Mahama government’s own appointments show the party has traded the soapbox for the same seat it once scorned.
Consider this record: Asiedu Nketiah was sworn in as Board Chairman of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) on June 25, 2025. Dr. Kwaku Asiedu-Nketiah, who is widely reported as the son of the NDC Chairman himself, was appointed Acting Deputy CEO of the Minerals Income Investment Fund in January 2025. Joyce Bawah Mogtari, long a close aide of President Mahama was retained as Senior Presidential Adviser to the President, while her husband, Hudu Mogtari became Board Chairman of the Ghana Standards Authority in July 2025. Their family circle widened: Clara B. Arthur was made CEO of GhIPSS, and John Sheriff Bawa became Managing Director of the State Housing Company in March 2025. The wife of the NDC General Secretary, Dr Naomi Wolali Kwetey received her share of the “friends and families” appointments. Betty Mould Iddrisu gets a seat on the Council of State and his younger brother Alexander Mould heads the Millenium Development Authority.
The optics grow starker. In March 2025, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie was sworn in as Director-General of the Prisons Service. A month later, her husband, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, was elevated Acting Chief Justice. Around the same time, Malik Basintale took charge at the Youth Employment Agency while Samuel Basintale Amadu became Comptroller-General of the Immigration Service. These were appointments reported in media and linked by shared family ties.
I am still investigating other reported numerous cases of these “friends and families” appointments across various state institutions and will update readers in my next write up on this matter.
Defenders will argue; not without reason, that many of these individuals are competent, qualified professionals. Family relations should not automatically disqualify them from serving our country. That is not the point. The NDC made perception the standard. They set the bar themselves when they castigated the Akufo-Addo government as a nepotistic regime. By their own benchmark, the clustering of appointments around family and allies today looks hypocritical at best and cynical at worst.
The transformation is unmistakable: a party that once branded “family and friends” governance as political sin now indulges in the same practice. The Mahama administration could still salvage credibility by apologising to Ghanaians, creating a conflict-of-interest register, and proactively addressing all perceived nepotistic appointments made. But until then, the NDC’s metamorphosis from opposition purist to governing practitioner is complete — and Ghanaians are right to call it what it is: inconsistency dressed as governance.
