Highlife musician Bisa Kdei has weighed in on Ghana’s political landscape, saying he supported the push for change ahead of the December 2024 elections and that President John Dramani Mahama’s early pace in office, while impressive, carries its own risks.
Speaking on Joy Prime in Accra, the award-winning musician said he was unable to cast his ballot on election day but had no reservations about the direction the country took. “I didn’t vote last two years because I was somewhere when it was happening, but I was all for change,” he said.
Bisa Kdei argued that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did not lose power because it had a wholly bad record, but because the difficulties that defined the latter part of its administration overshadowed what it achieved in its early years. “The NPP did its bit,” he said, “but the latter part of their government was nothing to write home about, hence the clamour for change.”
He drew a broader lesson from this, warning that Ghanaian voters have short political memories and that the Mahama administration faces a similar test if it fails to sustain early momentum. “In Ghana, people easily forget. So things might be good now, but if it gets bad during the latter part of the administration, Ghanaians will forget all that you did for them,” he said.
The musician pointed to what he described as an encouraging early signal under the current administration, noting that the cedi’s performance against the dollar had improved, but cautioned that this alone would not insulate the president from political backlash if things deteriorate closer to the next election.
Bisa Kdei, who has been publicly non-partisan for most of his career, said his concern was less about party loyalty and more about managing expectations. He urged the president to pace himself, suggesting that moving too fast risks creating a gap between early promises and eventual delivery.
