Ghana's President Mahama Embraces Pan-African Style, Raising Security Concerns

Since 2025, Ghanaian President John Mahama has governed as a pragmatic social democrat, often dressing in the style of pan-African founding father Kwame Nkrumah. Western diplomats worry Mahama is too lenient toward armed Islamists in the north. A visit to Accra's West Hills Mall, one of West Africa's largest shopping centers, reveals a European-like atmosphere with air-conditioned fashion stores, Chinese restaurants, and supermarkets offering yogurt, ham, Chinese TVs, and gas stoves. The cinema on the second floor shows not Western blockbusters but a low-budget Nigerian thriller, "Avante" by director Toka McBacror, which opened in early April across African cinemas. The film deals with revenge and excessive violence: young Albert witnesses his parents murdered by a warlord.