Claim: Candidate Mahama promised to scrap fuel allowances if elected president
Source: Solomon Owusu, Senior Communicator, Movement for Change
Verdict: True
Researched by Nusrat Essah
On July 15, 2025, President John Dramani Mahama, through the Minister of Government Communications, announced the cancellation of fuel allowances and allocation to all political appointees.
A day after the announcement (July 16, 2025), a Senior Communicator of the opposition Movement for Change, Solomon Owusu, speaking on TV3’s Big Issue programme claimed President Mahama had promised to cancel the fuel allowances for government officials while in opposition.
He was critiquing the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), whose Members of Parliament (MPs) and other functionaries were accusing the government of engaging in gimmicks and Public Relations with the fuel allocation cut announcement.
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“First of all, this was a campaign promise that… President Mahama, then a candidate, gave this promise when he was in opposition, I think somewhere in May, that given the opportunity, he will scrap the fuel allowance,” Solomon Owusu said.
This report seeks to verify whether Mahama indeed made such a promise while in opposition.
Fact-Check
A Google search by GhanaFact led to a report published by Citi Newsroom on May 28, 2024. In the report, Mahama promised to scrap fuel allowances during a meeting with the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Ghana.
GhanaFact traced a video of the said meeting to Metro TV’s Facebook page, where Mahama publicly committed to ending certain allowances for government officials, including fuel allocations.
He stated: “We will discontinue the payment of utility bills, fuel, DSTV, etc. as conditions of service for top government officials, directors, and the political class. We believe that people should take up paying their own electricity bills and water bills like every other Ghanaian does.
“Unless you are using a government vehicle or on government assignment, you should buy your fuel if you are using your own car. And so we are going to discontinue that.” (watch from 23 mins: 06 secs to 23 mins: 33 secs)
The quote above supports the claim made by Solomon Owusu that President John Mahama, while in opposition, promised to cancel fuel allowances for government officials if elected into power.
Verdict
Therefore, the claim is True.
Other popular promises delivered
GhanaFact has previously fact-checked President Mahama’s promises outlined in his First 120 Days Social Contract document, in which he committed to implementing over 20 key interventions. (read full report here)
In addition to the cancellation of fuel allowances, President Mahama made several key promises during the 2024 campaign, some of which were also captured in the NDC’s manifesto.
Speaking about measures that will help reduce government expenditures, at his meeting with the EU Ambassador to Ghana on May 28, 2025, Mahama said:
“We will introduce measures that will stop our government and any future government from wasting state funds, such as reducing the number of ministers and appointees, merging ministerial portfolios. We will review and eliminate ex gratia payment in their current form.
“We will also merge state agencies. There are several state agencies that are duplicating each other, and so, where the functions are the same, we will bring them together and merge them. We will discontinue the payment of utility bills, fuel, DSTV, etc., as conditions of service for top government officials, directors, and the political class.
“We believe that people should take up paying their own electricity bills and water bills like every other Ghanaian does. Unless you are using a government vehicle or on government assignment, you should buy your fuel if you are using your own car. And so we are going to discontinue that.” Watch from (22 mins: 36 secs to 23 mins: 06 secs).
Reduce the number of ministers and appointees, merge ministerial portfolios
This promise, made at the meeting, was also captured in the NDC manifesto.
By January 21, 2025, President Mahama had reduced the number of ministries from 28 to 23 through the merging and scrapping of some ministries.
His total ministerial appointments at the time included:
- 23 substantive ministers
- 4 ministers of State
- 16 regional ministers
- 13 deputy regional ministers, bringing the total to 56.
(Read more details from our previous report here.)
Recently on July 9, 2025, Mahama nominated his final batch of four deputy ministers, namely;
- Docas Toffey- Deputy Minister for Transport
- James Gyakye Quayson- Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs
- Mohammed Adam Sukparu- Deputy Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations
- Grace Ayensu-Danquah- Deputy Minister for Health
This increased the number of deputy ministers to 17, bringing the total number of ministerial appointments to 60.
This marks a reduction from the over 80 ministers appointed by the previous administration.
Verdict
Promise delivered.
Cancellation of DSTV subscription
On June 10, 2025, during an interview with Joy News at the Jubilee House, the government spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, revealed that the government has banned DSTV and satellite subscription at the Jubilee House and plans to extend the same to all government agencies.
“I can reveal to you that if you come to this house, there’s no office in this house that is allowed to subscribe to DSTV or any satellite television…And it is something that will be extended to all government agencies to ensure that we don’t waste the taxpayers’ money,” he said. (19 secs to 1 mins: 06 secs)
Only the Jubilee House is banned from DSTV and satellite subscription. Therefore, this promise is not fully achieved since the cancellation has not yet been extended to other government officials.
Verdict
Promise partially delivered.
Review and eliminate ex gratia payment
President Mahama’s promise to review and eliminate ex gratia payment to Article 71 officeholders was highlighted multiple times and was also captured in the NDC manifesto.
However, as of now, there is no official policy announcement regarding a review or cancellation of ex gratia payment. The ongoing constitutional review process could, however, make some recommendations in that direction.
Verdict
Promise not delivered
30% women in cabinet
During the launch of the NDC Women’s Manifesto on September 30, 2024, President Mahama promised to give 30% of cabinet positions to women if he is elected into power.
“Within the first 14 days of my presidency, I will nominate my Cabinet- 30% of whom will be women,” he said.
According to Article 76 of the constitution, President Mahama’s cabinet consists of 22 members, including himself, the Vice President Naana Jane, 19 members, and a Cabinet Secretary.
Out of these, only three are women, thus cabinet ministers and the Vice President, making female representation just 13.6%.
This falls significantly short of Mahama’s 30% women representation promise. (Read more from our previous report here)
Verdict
Promise not delivered
Constitutional review
Mahama promised on several occasions to initiate a review of Ghana’s 1992 constitution.
Speaking during the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s (GBC) Presidential Encounters on November 29, 2024, he said:
“ … one of the things we intend to do urgently when we come into office is to push the issue of constitutional review so that we can clearly define some of the clauses that we have in the constitution so that we don’t always have to run to the Supreme Court for interpretation.”
On January 19, 2025, President Mahama established an 8-member Constitutional Review Committee, chaired by Professor Henry Kwasi Pempeh, the Executive Director of Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).
Subsequently, on January 30, 2025, the President officially swore in the committee to begin the review process of the 1992 Constitution, which is currently ongoing.
Verdict
Promise delivered
