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Today�s date, January 7, hasn�t got a ring to it in our national consciousness. It is not the 6th of March, Independence Day, or 1st July, Republic Day. It becomes an interesting date only once every four years when the elected President is sworn into office. The constitutionally mandated term of office for a Ghanaian President is four years. There are those who have decided that a year into a presidency is enough time to judge whether the president is up to the task or not. Almost every language in this country has a saying that makes us believe that if something is going to be a success, you can tell from the early indications. In the bad old days, if the early signs pointed to a government that was struggling and did not appear to know what to do or if it was hit by some scandals, then it was deemed acceptable to truncate the term with a military coup d�etat. Indeed, in our experience in Ghana, it was known that some adventurers started plotting to overthrow a government long before it had the opportunity to commit any mistakes or crimes. Mercifully, we have put behind us the idea of interrupting a president�s term of office for whatever reason. Once we have elected him, we are expected to put up with him. When you read the section of the Constitution that deals with the impeachment of a president, it is obvious we don�t really want to go through such traumas. So having signed up to a four-year term, at which point during the period are citizens allowed to say they have made a dreadful mistake and if they make such a decision early in the term, what type of relationship do they then have with their elected president? There is not very much you can do except feel grumpy all day. But what about the man (so far, no sign of a woman) who has been elected to this four-year term in present-day Ghana and who unlike some predecessors, does not have to go to bed every night being told some people were plotting to overthrow him? Our current President seems to have decided that his compatriots have short memories and all he needs to do is to ensure that the last six months or so of his four-year term are fine and he would be fine. He gives the impression that the most important part of his term is the fourth year and what happens in that fourth year is how he would be judged. Roads If things have been intolerably difficult in the first two years, he is counting on the fact that the slightest improvement will make everybody feel better and grateful to him. If the roads are left to deteriorate badly for three years and there is repair work in the fourth year, there is such widespread relief nobody wants to even recall what state they had been in. If for three years, power supply was for an average of 12 hours every day and in the fourth year there was power outage for 12 hours every other day, the conclusion is things have improved. The obvious lesson here would be that we all learn the art of survival to take us through the first three years and once you make it to the fourth year, things will improve or at least, they would appear to improve. As we enter the third year of this four-year cycle, there are things we can expect to happen. We have not reached the peak of anything yet. The things that are currently not working will get worse. The roads will get worse, the National Health Insurance will feel like it is on its last legs, and the power problems will persist. Our currency will continue to slide in value. The President will continue to make promises, no matter how often he promises he would no longer make promises. No promises If the promise making upsets you, just hold your breath and think ahead to next year; there would be no promises in 2016. If the bad roads are your problem, then simply arrange to get a massage after every little journey and get your eyes checked because the president�s spokespersons are going to insist the roads have been made and you must be blind if you haven�t seen the good roads. There will soon be a change in the language of the president and his spokespersons. You would remember it took him a while but he finally accepted that the country was having some difficulties. Well, such language will disappear from all officials in the second half of this year and it will all now be about results. We shall be urged to look out for results and there will no longer be any challenges. To be able to make the president�s four-year agenda coincide with that of the citizens, we have to find a way to convince him we have long memories. There are hundreds of GETFund projects around the country which have been abandoned because the President wants to use the GETFund money to build other new structures which will fit into his four-year programme. We have to make him believe he can finish projects in the first and second years of his term and the people of Ghana will count them among his successes. Four years can be a long time or it can fly by without you noticing. Those who have decided that nothing good will come out of this government are going to have an excruciating time because the days will be grinding by ever so slowly. What we should all keep in mind is that this is a four-year term. Or if you prefer the analogy, it is a four-hour exam and you are judged on the paper you present after the four hours. You cannot judge the President on his performance after one year; you cannot judge him on his performance after two years, nor even after three years. You can judge him after four years. If you don�t make it into the fourth year, you will be what they call in military campaigns, �collateral damage�. Those among us who think President Mahama is doing an okay job are probably surprised that today the President is halfway through his four-year term.