Your Excellency President John Dramani Mahama,

I write to you not as an opponent, but as a Ghanaian who has lived the cost of political abuse.

1989. I was 6 years old.

My father was Dr Boakye-Danquah, an ENT Surgeon at Korle Bu. He was not a politician.

His only “crime” was serving patients and living with dignity.

And yes, he carried a name. He had relations with Dr JB Danquah of the Big Six.

He was married to the granddaughter of Nana Sir Ofori-Atta I and niece of Hon Aaron Ofori-Atta of the First Republic Government. A family that bled for this country’s independence and democracy.

Doctors were on strike. My father was on his annual leave.

But the then Secretary of Health, Nana Akuoko Sarpong of the PNDC, targeted him. Why? Because my father had legally purchased the Rolls Royce of the outgoing UK Ambassador. Chairman Rawlings asked for the vehicle. My father refused.

For refusing, he was sacked. His license to practice medicine was seized.

That same night, National Security came to Ringway Estate. Our neighbor was Mr Adamafio, then Information Minister. They sacked us from the government bungalow.

A 6-year-old boy, my mother, my siblings — thrown out because of politics.

My father had no choice. He sought political asylum in the USA. That is how Ghana lost a surgeon. That is how our family was scattered.

Years later, it was President Kufuor’s 1998 promise of reconciliation to the diaspora that gave many of us hope to come home.

My father came back in May 2020. He died in June 2020. He never got his license back.

And the pain didn’t stop with him. When my elder brother went for his medical school interview at Korle Bu, he was denied for bearing his father’s name. Today that same brother lives in New York and works in top management at JP Morgan. My other 6 siblings all live in the USA. Ghana trained them. America is benefiting from them.

MR PRESIDENT, THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU

Your Excellency, I appeal to you directly. This is not about you.

This is about the children at home today whose parents — young fathers and mothers — are being handled this way by state authorities.

This is about the next Dennis “Miracles” Aboagye, who just spent 3 nights and 4 days in EOCO detention and was granted bail on Monday and released finally Tuesday night 14th July, 2026. I do not know the full facts of his case, but I know the pain of detention and public humiliation.

I wish Mr. Miracles Aboagye healing and strength in this moment. No Ghanaian deserves to feel that the law is being used to break him.

When I see these things, my heart and soul weeps for Mother Ghana.

We ended the PNDC era in 1992 so no 6-year-old would be chased from a bungalow again. So no doctor would lose his license for saying “no” to power. So no child would be denied his future because of his last name.

But those ghosts have found their way back into our 4th Republic.

MY APPEAL TO YOU, MR PRESIDENT

Mr President, you have a second chance to lead. You also carry an AU mandate on governance. The world is watching.

1. Stop the victimization. Direct all state institutions to follow due process. Law is law. No Saturday arrests. No seizure of livelihoods because someone said “no.” 2. Be a father for all. The day you were sworn in, every Ghanaian child became your child — NPP, NDC, and those not yet born. 3. Remember 1989. Remember that abuse of power doesn’t just hurt one man. It exiles a doctor. It scatters a family. It exports our best brains to JP Morgan.

Ghana cannot grow if we keep recycling the pain of the past.

I came back in 2018 to serve. I am an Academic at the University of Professional Studies and a former Government spokesperson on Governance and Security (Akufo-Addo/Bawumia Government)

I am in public service because of Christ’s redemption blood 🩸. My siblings said “never again.” I said “I will try.”

I pray you don’t give up on being fair, Mr. President. Because the children we wound today will lead tomorrow. And they will remember.

May God heal our land. May God heal our politics.

Dr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah Son of Dr (ent) Boakye-Danquah Academic, University of Professional Studies/ Former Government Spokesperson on Governance and Security