Former Attorney General and Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has taken aim at the continuous political rivalry between Ghana’s two major political parties, describing their approach to governance as a “crabs in a basket” mentality.
Amidu lamented how successive governments have failed to build upon past achievements in the national interest in an open letter reacting to President John Dramani Mahama’s seventh State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered in Parliament on February 27, 2025.
“As part of the conflict interaction for the 2025 SONA season, the NPP, which challenges the narrative of the 2025 SONA, is gearing to present its version of the economy as has always been the case after every first government SONA at the beginning of a new political party government transition since 2001,” Amidu stated, pointing to a trend where opposing parties use the occasion to discredit each other rather than foster national unity.
He warned that the upcoming policy and budget statement, to be presented by the Minister for Finance on March 11, 2025, is likely to worsen the situation rather than promote cooperation. “The signs are that the Minister for Finance’s policy and budget statement to be presented on 11 March 2025 intends to deepen rather than lessen inter-party acrimony and hamper cooperation for collective national development,” he noted.
Amidu highlighted that this cycle of political blame-shifting has repeated itself over the years, recalling similar occurrences in 2009 and 2017. He accused both the NPP and NDC of prioritizing their own political survival over the national interest.
“Like crabs in a basket, none of the two political parties wishes the other to succeed because to do so will block the chances of the other group of political elite to have their turn to eat from the public purse for a long time to come,” he wrote.
Calling for a shift in political culture, Amidu urged Ghana’s leadership to heed the words of the late President John Evans Atta Mills, who, during his first SONA in 2009, emphasized the importance of continuity where necessary.
“The interest of the 1992 Constitution demands that this nation learns to move away from the crabs in a basket mentality and attitude to adopt ‘as a Nation to add to what is working and to change course only when it is in the National Interest to do so,’ as President Mills recommended in his first 2009 SONA even though it was breached more in the observance,” Amidu recalled.
