President Mahama, Who Is Really This Man?

President Mahama's character should be put under a microscopic examination before Ghanaians go to the polls to vote. What we know so far about this man should give us a pause for introspective reflection. Did this man mistakingly give wrong figures during the IEA debate or he was intentionally hiding something? Why did he tell Ghanaians that we were being charged $5000 a year to educate Medical Doctors when he knew the figure was $25,000 a year? This is the man who signed the contract and knew more about the details of the contract than anybody in Ghana since he was the one too who selected the students to be given the scholarships to and all the 250 students came from the three Northern regions. What is the real cost to educate these students in Cuba?

"According to the Minister of Health, the cost of training each one of our Senior High School graduates sent to medical schools in Cuba amounts to GH¢50,660.12 (¢506.6 million) a year. This means that at the end of the six years, we would have spent US$151,980 or GH¢303,960 (¢3.0396 billion) on each of those students."

Another African country, Namibia also took Cuba on a similar offer and paid less. Namibia too signed a contract to train 100 students in Cuba at a cost of N$70 million (US$8,029,754.84) to finance the training of 100 doctors in Cuba over six years. Under the agreement, Namibia has to pay N$705,000 (US$80,871.10) to train one doctor in Cuba for the six years.

Compare how much the Cubans are charging Ghana under the same program.In Ghana, however, we are being forced by this NDC government to pay US$152,000. This is almost twice what the Namibians are paying and even begrudgingly!

Again, comparing the two deals, the cost of training one Namibian doctor in Cuba would cost US$13,748.52 or GH¢26,957.03 and the cost of doing the same thing for a Ghanaian student in Cuba is US$25,330.06 or GH¢50,660.12 per annum.

President Mahama must explain to Ghanaians why we are paying much more than the Namibians are. Or is it just the case that in President John Dramani Mahama, everything is 'DOUBLE DOUBLE', one going into his pocket and the other going to pay for the cost. Why are we paying almost 100 million dollars to train 250 Doctors in Cuba when it cost $6000 a year to train a Doctor at Legon and $2500 a year to train a Doctor at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology(KNUST)?

President Mahama is a 'shasta' because he initially sold this idea to President Mills as a scholarship and took advantage of Mills poor health to sign this contract at a cost that needs more investigation. How come every contract this man has signed has been flagged with outrageous figures? He signed the STX 10 billion contract with Korea that went to Parliament at least three times for corrections about the figures ne signed on to.

This man also signed the contract to purchase five planes from Brazil that came with question marks on the price. Just like the botched housing deals he negotiated with STX of Korea and GUMA of South Africa; the $88 million Embraer 190 jet, which comes with a staircase costing $1 million, a fuel tank at $8 million and hangar at $17m; entertainment equipment at $1 million. How do you buy a hangar or sign to construct a hangar to park a plane at 17 million dollars? Is this a case of "YE HWE KURU NII ANIM NA YAMA NO MOO" or Mahama is just a bad negotiator or just a plain corrupt man taking advantage of his position to dupe Ghana of millions of dollars? President Mills when he saw the details of this plane contract was so infuriated he was said to have set up a committee to investigate Mahama about the prices.

According to former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Martin Amidu,the late President Mills, apparently shocked and suspicious of then Vice President Mahama's negotiations, set up a Committee, comprising Hon William Aboah, Mr. George Amoah and Brig. Gen. Allotey (Rtd.), to investigate the Processes of the Acquisition of Five Aircraft, including Embraer 190 aircraft and hangar to the Ghana Army.According to Martin Amidu, "pressure groups never allowed the Committee to take off. But the very fact that the late President Mills contemplated this Committee meant that he was uncomfortable with and suspicious of the alleged inflated prices of the aircraft." Well- meaning Ghanaians believe this is a huge indictment on John Mahama who has refused to address this issue. Why is President Mahama and his veloce communication team of more than thirty people refusing to address this important issue?

It seems to me like President Mahama will not address this issue on his own accord and he must be forced to address this issue and the only venue we will get him to answe or address this allegation is at the second debate of the IEA Presidential debate coming on November 20th, 2012 at Accra. The Moderator or Moderators should not be lily-livered and summon cojones to ask questions like; President Mahama, is it true that President Mills set up a committee to investigate you because he suspected that the prices on the plane deal were inflated? I wouldn't mind trading asking this question on Mahama with the Akuffo Addo being asked to address the wee smoking allegation. These are the leaders we are choosing to lead this country for four years or possibly eight years and we don't want a thief or a druggie to rule the country. Let make the next debate less boring by asking pertinent questions about the character of these Presidential aspirants.

Justice Sarpong

Houston, Texas

(CARDINAL of TRUTH)