Ghana's President-elect John Dramani Mahama said he is keen to push through major reforms after poor economic conditions contributed to instability and even coups in neighbouring countries.

"We're at risk," Mahama said in an interview with DW, referencing the instability and military takeovers that have plagued other west African nations such as Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. 

Mahama's National Democratic Congress (NDC) just won a resounding electoral victory after seven years in opposition.

And although Mahama knows well that Ghana has a history of peaceful democratic transition, having already been president from 2012 to 2017, he warned that he doesn't take for granted that what is happening in neighboring countries couldn't spill over.

"If you look at all the risk assessments, yes... it's quite dire. So we need to work as quickly as possible," to ensure stability, he said.

Mahama said the coups that occurred in three Sahelian countries in recent years could spread further if things don't change.

"There's an African proverb that says that when your neighbor has a house that's on fire, you help him to quench it. Otherwise, when it burns down his house, it will spread to your house. And so we need to give Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger all the support they need to deal with this crisis," Mahama said.

"Otherwise, it definitely would spread. Already there are incursions in northern Togo. I'm sure you've heard about them. And so it's just a matter of time. And so we need to be very proactive."

Ambitious reform plans

Outgoing Ghanaian President Nana Afuko-Addo has been widely condemned by voters for mismanaging public finances. In the latter years of his tenure inflation skyrocketed to 40%, prompting the worst financial crisis in a generation.

Therefore, Mahama is under pressure to deliver economic results for a population struggling with the staggering rise in the cost of living.

One of his first plans is to reform the cocoa industry. Ghana is the world's second-largest exporter of cocoa beans, the raw material necessary to make chocolate, after Cote d'Ivoire.

Despite massive increases in chocolate prices due to the rise in costs of raw materials, production, and logistics, demand for cocoa around the world has barely slowed down.

However, in Ghana, prices are fixed by the cocoa marketing board (COCOBOD), which ends up competing with farmers for profits.

"We will see how to restructure" COCOBOD, Mahama told the Reuters news agency. It's an ambitious project, as all earlier attempts to dismantle the organization — which controls every aspect of the industry from seedlings to shipment packaging — have all failed.

Cocoa production slipping

Although it is one of the world's leading exporters, cocoa production actually hit its lowest level in decades in 2023 as a result of climate change, illegal mining, tree disease, and increases in administrative costs from COCOBOD that have more than tripled since 2018.

Mahama's proposed reforms call for more efficiency at every level of production, and for increased profits to go directly to farmers, not the bureaucracy.

"We're willing to work with anybody if it'll make the cocoa sector more efficient and bring back our cocoa production to what it was before," Mahama told DW.

Ghana is currently receiving aid organized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that hinges on making major reforms to turn its economy around.

Mahama previously said he wanted to renegotiate the terms of the IMF deal but not back out altogether.

Edited by: Zac Crellin