‘I was one of the most harassed presidents by organised labour’ – John Dramani Mahama

His Excellency, the former president of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, noted that he is among the presidents in the Fourth Republic who are subjected to the most harassment in terms of protests by organized labor groups.

Following the passing of his then-boss, president John Evans Atta-Mills, Mahama took office six months earlier and served as president from 2013 to 2017.

On December 9, 2022, he gave a public lecture at the Academic City University College in Accra about how challenging his presidency had been, culminating in his usage of the now-famous political slang “dead goat.”

The National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) 2020 presidential candidate claimed that during 2013 and 2014, he had endured so much intimidation from organized labor that he had grown immune to their threats.

He clarified that it was because of this that, in 2015, he “diagnosed” himself with the “dead goat syndrome,” a condition.

Due to the government’s deregulation agenda and the potential for protests over fuel price increases, Mahama used the term that later became a catchphrase among the opposition at the time. He was also confident that organized labor would pursue him.

“I was one of the most harassed Presidents by Organised Labour. That is what led to the dead goat syndrome… because when you kill a goat, you cannot frighten it with the knife again,” he explained.

“I am the only government in the Fourth Republic where all organised labour came together and went on strike and shut down the country ….,” he added.

Mahama’s dead goat syndrome comment

As the nation got closer to the 2016 Election, the country’s then-president Mahama issued a warning that he would not be moved by the threat of strikes by labor unions.

“I have seen more demonstrations and strikes in my first two years. I don’t think it can get worse. It is said that when you kill a goat, and you frighten it with a knife, it doesn’t fear the knife because it is dead already.

“I have a dead goat syndrome,” he said on March 11, 2015, while speaking to members of the Ghanaian community in Botswana.

‘I was one of the most harassed presidents by organised labour’ – John Dramani Mahama

‘I was one of the most harassed presidents by organised labour’ – John Dramani Mahama