"A great inaugural speech must lay out the national vision in clear terms, and chart a path of coherence for our national economic recovery."

On Tuesday, the 7th of January,2025, government would change hands from the NPP to the NDC, and from Akufo-Addo to John Dramani Mahama.

This would be the 9th time under this Constitution that someone is being sworn in as president, even though we have had five occupants, all of them except the late president Mills doing two terms.

If the first coming was tough, Mahama's second coming would be tougher, considering the almost unsurmountable economic malaise we find ourselves in.

Unfortunately, we don't remember any of our five presidents, particularly for their great inaugural speeches. While the inaugural speech in itself may not be a magic wand for a great performance by any means, it definitely sets the tone for what fate awaits the nation in the next four years.

A great inaugural speech must lay out the national vision in clear terms, and chart a path of coherence for our national economic recovery.

More importantly, it must be well constructed and articulated to challenge and inspire citizens into making sacrifices for the nation, while uniting the country and restoring hope in the national reconstruction effort.

The inaugural speech is an international barometer for measuring the country's readiness to chart the path of progress and development and to attract international investment and collaboration in key sectors of the economy.

Would John Mahama be able to ride on the sea of goodwill that handed the NPP its worst defeat at the polls to build hope and confidence in the Ghanaian dream once more?

The Ghanaian dream, unfortunately, is nothing extraordinary. It is simply being able to create jobs for our youth so they can put food on the table. This dream has remained elusive for many Ghanaians throughout the life of the Fourth Republic.

Why our leaders cannot create jobs for the youth of this country remains a mystery. What's the use of education and infrastructural development if they cannot coagulate into jobs?

Each year, a new batch of unemployed youth worsens the unemployment situation, creating a sea of frustrated, demented, hopeless youth incapable of fulfilling their aspirations in this ransacked country.

Partisanship, corruption, and shortsightedness have remained the bane of democracy as practised in Africa. The principle of "us and against them" and looting the treasury in turns by ruling governments have turned our harpless youth into strangers in foreign lands, or be resigned to failure if they must remain in the motherland.

John Mahama's work is cut out for him rather nicely. Whether he would taste like a new wine in a new bottle, or a new wine in an old wineskin (just another John)with the same uninspiring, lethargic, repetitive motions of governance that we have become so accustomed to, we wait to see.

Can John Mahama rein his ministers in? Can he prioritize the national interest over parochial partisanship? Can he dust the flames of greed from his party and lay a new foundation for a prosperous Ghana?

Then let his inaugural speech set the tone!