Eschew nepotism, it’s corruption – Mahama

Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Dramani Mahama has advised his fellow politicians to shun nepotism describing it as a form of corruption.

The NDC has accused President Akufo-Addo of deep-seated nepotism.

Nana Akufo-Addo responding, however, said he has only two family members in his government, thus, ricocheted accusations by the NDC that he has 51 relatives in his “family-and-friends” government.

“I’m not presiding over a government of family-and-friends”, the President rebuffed at the Jubilee House on Friday, 13 December 2019 when he engaged journalists, explaining: “Yes, only two members of my family in the names Ofori-Atta, who is the Minister of Finance, is my cousin. He happened also, at the time, to have been the person who was responsible for the NPP’s fundraising drive; nobody made any criticism of him when he was in that position and I don’t think it’s so difficult for somebody who has been the fundraiser to transition into the Finance Minister”.

“Apart from everything else”, the President noted: “As far as I’m concerned, he is amazingly capable; he’s been like a magician”.

Addressing members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat at their Annual National Convention on the theme "Corruption - A threat to national development" at Pomadze near Winneba in the Central Region on Sunday, 5 January 2020 Mr Mahama said wrong is wrong.

He told the gathering that: “We must eschew nepotism, that is, family-and-friends government because nepotism is corruption where family of top officials are the ones who get the juiciest appointments and others are left out. It is corruption, and we must eschew hypocrisy.

“Right is right and wrong is wrong. Nepotism does not become right because a different government is in power and our leaders and religious leaders must have the courage to speak up against it.

“In a certain regime when issues of nepotism arise you hear people say ‘but are they not qualified’? of course in every regime top officials can find their relatives who are qualified and, so, right is right, wrong is wrong.”