Mills blows $60m on congress

President JEA Mills intends to spend a colossal amount of $60 million (90 million Ghana Cedis) for his 56-day campaign for the flagbearership of the National Democratic Congress, according to Herbert Mensah, a close associate to the founder of the ruling party. This works out at nearly $1 million a day ($967,742.00, precisely) in campaign expenditure from May 5 (the day that President Mills picked up his nomination forms) to July 8, the day set for the NDC presidential primary.

Speaking to the New Statesman Tuesday before he boarded a flight from Accra to Mogadishu, in the company of AU peace representative for Somalia, former President JJ Rawlings, Mr Herbert repeated his allegation (first made on Peace FM Monday) that Mr Rawlings has intercepted evidence which suggests that President Mills intends to win the July congress through profligate vote buying, warning that “the integrity of the country is at stake.”

“Every Ghanaian must be worried. We are talking about a frightening abuse of incumbency. Look at how much of state resources were abused last week when the President had merely to pick up his nominations forms,” said Nana Akomea, MP, the Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party.

John Boadu, his Deputy Communications Director has also called on the anti-corruption institutions to call for the evidence to investigate this matter to establish the full facts.

“If the allegation is true then it can only mean that we are in for a big financial trouble as a country. Where is the money coming from,” John Boadu wonders, adding, “This takes corruption to heights beyond vulgarity. If President Mills is, indeed, prepared to spend $60 million for a 2½ month campaign for an internal contest, then we can only imagine how much more he and his government are prepared to spend in next year’s general elections.”

Omane Boamah, Deputy Minister for Environment and a member of the Mills campaign team, has denied the allegation calling for the tapes to be made public.

Yet, on the issue of the $60 million primary campaign budget, Mr Mensah has alleged that former President Rawlings has a tape recording on which the movements of huge campaign funds was discussed, including Gh¢9 million for the operations of GAME (Get Atta Mills Elected) in the Ashanti Region alone.

It is further alleged that parallel party bank accounts have been opened in all ten regions by the GAME leadership for the movement of such funds for the Mills campaign.

This alleged campaign budget came to light even before Ekwow Spio-Garbrah picked up his nomination forms Tuesday for the NDC 2012 flagbearer contest, adding to the number of contestants. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, the wife of the party’s founding father, was first to pick up her forms on May 4. Both Mrs Rawlings and Dr Spio-Garbrah had to resign their respective positions as vice chairpersons of the NDC. The New Statesman was the first to break the news Monday about Spio’s intentions.

There have been growing concerns that President Mills will use his power and influence to ‘bribe’ the majority of the estimated 2,860 delegates for the July congress.

This was not helped by his decision to opt for a lavish display of support and influence in that simple act of picking his nomination forms last Thursday, an event which involved hours of avoidable traffic, scores of coaches to transport supporters to Accra from the regions and hours of live television and radio coverage, at huge cost to the Mills campaign and the national economy.

Mills has promised to win by a landslide. But his party founder has warned that even if he won he would lose the 2012 presidential race to Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party.

At the May 4 campaign launch of Mrs Rawlings, Kofi Adams, the spokesperson for the Rawlingses and Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, accused President Mills of using nothing but naked cash to win party delegates.

He, however, warned delegates about the risk of being relegated into opposition if they follow money and not their conscience.

He advised them to take Mills’ money “because it is your money but make sure you do what the good people of this country and party want when we meet in Sunyani” for the July congress.

On Peace FM on May 9, Mr Mensah said, “there is a whole suggestion of [a Mills] machinery in place to make sure the delegates succumb to financial and other intimidation which obviously the government may deny but I sat with 10 to 15 delegates in Kumasi… and quite clearly, not all is straight.”

Mrs Rawlings had, in resigning earlier, said, “I needed to take this bold step to at least give a strong impression in the minds of delegates that I will contest the election so that they could make their minds and not allow themselves to be bought with money.”

The former first lady has said publicly that some NDC executives have called to inform her that they were given money to append their signatures to the series of declarations made purportedly by regional branches of the party on behalf of President Mills in a failed attempt to “intimidate” her from picking up nomination forms.

“If all these things are happening in our party, why should I not be perturbed?” she said on April 15.

That same day, Dela Coffie, Communications Director of FONKAR, a group supporting Mrs Rawlings, said, “These endorsements are stage-managed since they are being done by persons at the seat of government and some greedy national executives who are busily working to influence regional executives with money to declare their support for President Mills”

This was confirmed by NDC Propaganda Secretary for Ketu South, Wisdom Mensah, who said of the declarations, “Those resolutions emanated from the seat of government, the Osu Castle, and were sent to the various regions for executives to mobilize signatures and declare support for Mills at a fee.”