The hypocrisy of partisan politics - Gabby writes on Mahama's Airbus Scandal acquittal

New Patriotic Party stalwart Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has reacted to the clearing of former President John Dramani Mahama of any wrongdoing in the Airbus SE investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).

Gabby, in a lengthy post shared on social media, took a swipe at the former president and members of his party, especially its National Communication Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, for “jubilating” after the Special Prosecutor cleared Mahama and his brother, Samuel Adam Mahama, of the corruption allegation against them in the Airbus scandal.

Without naming anyone, he accused the NDC of being hypocritical over their reaction to the OSP’s report on the Airbus scandal, while referring to Sammy Gyamfi’s recent Moment of Truth press conference on the brother of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia getting unmerited single-sourced contracts and the ‘Spare Parts Scandal’ by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, which implicated one of the daughters of President Akufo-Addo.

“The hypocrisy of partisan politics is indeed most interesting. Just a few days ago a senior opposition party official in Ghana held a press conference to condemn a relative of the vice president, who is a businessman, for his company allegedly benefiting from a public contract properly awarded. A week earlier it was about a former boyfriend (and “baby father”) of a daughter of the president and a contract for spare parts where no bribery allegation is said to be involved.

“Today that same propaganda chief is leading his party triumphantly (with support from the media), hailing his boss, the opposition leader and former president, as being “squeaky clean!” Why? The former president and the NDC presidential candidate for 2024 has been CLEARED of that major bribery charge that had hanged around his neck for 4 years!” Gabby wrote.

The NPP stalwart and cousin of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo insisted that investigations by authorities of the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) clearly pointed to corruption in the Airbus scandal.

He said that officials of Airbus have admitted to paying bribes and the details of the investigation point to ‘Government Official One’.

“Details are that reputable investigative institutions in the UK, US, and France have done thorough investigations which all implicated that Ghanaian leader and his brother in an indictment where the bribe giver (Airbus) admitted guilt and paid millions in fines (but not to Ghana). Airbus admits to paying bribes which allegedly went to Ghanaian government officials. Emails and other facts in the public domain point to the unusual involvement of the 'Government Official One' as the main champion of the deal in the entire transaction from the onset (even promising more) and how his brother was later on brought on board as agent for the company that admits to paying bribes.”

Read Gabby full post below:

The hypocrisy of partisan politics is indeed most interesting. Just a few days ago a senior opposition party official in Ghana held a press conference to condemn a relative of the vice president, who is a businessman, for his company allegedly benefiting from a public contract properly awarded. A week earlier it was about a former boyfriend (and “baby father”) of a daughter of the president and a contract for spare parts where no bribery allegation is said to be involved. Today that same propaganda chief is leading his party triumphantly (with support from the media), hailing his boss, the opposition leader and former president, as being “squeaky clean!” Why? The former president and the NDC presidential candidate for 2024 has been CLEARED of that major bribery charge that had hung around his neck for 4yrs! Details are that reputable investigative institutions in UK, US and France have done thorough investigations which all implicated that Ghanaian leader and his brother in an indictment where the bribe giver (Airbus) admitted guilt and paid millions in fines (but not to Ghana). Airbus admits to paying bribes which allegedly went to Ghanaian Govt officials. Emails and other facts in the public domain point to the unusual involvement of the “Government Official 1” as the main champion of the deal in the entire transaction from the onset (even promising more) and how his brother was later on brought on board as agent for the company that admits to paying bribes. Today his party and its leadership are understandably mightily relieved and happy because investigators in Ghana say they found no evidence against the leader and his brother the agent. One can only be happy for them! They now point to how an “innocent” interest in a transaction can be so mischievously misconstrued even by reputable investigators as dodgy. Thank God for Akufo-Addo’s meticulous OSP. Anaa? And, yet, that same party, the NDC, and that same leader, John Mahama, have made the accusation of corruption by the current president, his family, friends and appointees their main campaign message even to the point of using a patently fake document (not reports of reputable investigators) against the current president and his family to drive home the point. But, this is what is interesting though! Let us dare the opposition and their “squeaky clean” leader to name one clear case (not mere allegation) against Akufo-Addo, his family members or appointees that come anywhere remotely close to this Airbus case and its volumes of findings by investigators and admissions of guilt by the bribe giver itself. Let them put the Airbus case side by side to any of the charges they continue to lay on Akufo-Addo’s doorsteps. Yet, so desperate is the situation that they (led by JM himself) are left to rely confidently and unashamedly on a book of fiction as their main dossier of evidence and to use same to draw links and conclusions to show that what Ghanaians are enduring today is worse than what they did see under Mahama’s NDC and never mind the tons of evidence of real developments and spendings that have gone directly into the welfare and wellbeing of families and communities across the country. As we speak, there is another case in the US involving a senior staff of an international bank who was allegedly compelled to pay bribes in order to to secure a take-or-pay power contract for a Turkish company under John Mahama. Remember the billions of dollars Ghanaian taxpayers have paid for those take-or-pay deals over the last 7 or so years? Ghana is, indeed, an interesting country. But, I am truly happy for John Mahama and his family and his party, it must have been 4 years of utter agony having such a case of huge international proportions hanging around his neck. It couldn’t have been easy! Still, Africa shall continue to rise and rise we shall! Let the torch of transparency and the scrutiny of civil society and the media continue to shine on us all for the Africa we want!

BAI/ ADG

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