FLASHBACK: 'As a president or human?'- The moment Mahama struggled to answer question on bribe

On May 12, 2016, during an anti-corruption summit in London, United Kingdom, John Dramani Mahama, the former President of Ghana and current flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), found himself struggling with a straightforward question about whether or not he had accepted a bribe.

The question was posed to him by Peter Okwoche, the Nigeria correspondent for the BBC.

During the interview, and at the time the question on bribe was asked, this was what ensued between John Dramani Mahama and the BBC’s Peter Okwoche;

BBC: Mr President, have you been offered a bribe before?

Mr. Mahama: You mean as President?

BBC: As John Dramani Mahama

Mr. Mahama: As a human being?

BBC: As a person

Mr. Mahama: Any human being in the world would have encountered corruption in one way or the other, either being offered a bribe or a bribe being demanded from you. What you need to do is to put yourself in a position that… (the BBC reporter cuts in).

BBC: Mr President, did you take it?

Mr. Mahama : No, I haven’t taken a bribe.

Reviewing his BBC interview in an interaction with an Accra-based radio station, the NDC’s flagbearer described the question as discourteous and admitted the question unsettled him.

“That question was a very discourteous question,” he said in the interview.

Mahama, who is seeking a second shot as president, pointed out that “it threw me off the cuff. It was a question about ‘have you taken any bribe before?’ and it caught me off guard”.

Although the former president explained why he hesitated to answer the question, he would always be remembered for it.

EAN/WA