Ghana needs a man with impeccable integrity

In May 2016, there was an anti-corruption summit in London, where observers witnessed how the then president, John Dramani Mahama appeared extremely nervous when asked harmlessly by a BBC reporter whether he has been offered bribe before.

The BBC reporter’s concise question apparently preceded the late Mills bribery and corruption investigation on Mahama, the Armajaro reprieve, the alleged furtive Ford Expedition Vehicle gift from the Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, and the shameful Airbus bribery and corruption scandal which former President Mahama was allegedly cited in the international thematic report.

“Journalist: Mr. President, have you been offered a bribe before?”

“Mr. Mahama: You mean as President?”

“Journalist: As John Dramani Mahama”

“Mr. Mahama: As a human being?”

“Journalist: 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 bribe being demanded from you.” What you need to do is to put yourself in a position that… (, the Journalist cuts in)”

“Journalist: Mr. President, did you take it?”

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

Prior to the 2020 general elections, Mahama had this to say when he was asked about the 2016 BBC bribe question by an Accra based Class FM host: “it was a question about: ‘Have you taken a bribe before?’ And it caught me off guard,” adding “I will tell you that, but I answered it.”

“You know, the thing about that interview was that question was a very ‘discourteous’ one.”

He offered an explanation: “it was ‘discourteous’ because the western media has created an impression, of course, from some solid experiences – I mean the period of Mobutu Sese Seko and all that characterizes every African leader as corrupt – and so one won’t ask a western leader that kind of question because it is ‘discourteous (Daily Guide Africa, 20200).”

It is quite amazing listening to former President John Dramani Mahama giving sermons on corruption and promising to investigate and prosecute bribery and corruption suspects in the event of returning to the Jubilee House in 2025.

Honestly, I am bemused over Mahama’s cacophonous anti-corruption sermons. I am indeed besotted. Wonders shall never end, our elders say.

I have always held a firm and unadulterated conviction that the numerous corruption allegations hanging on the neck of former President Mahama largely led to NDC’s 2016 humiliating election defeat.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the President of a nation is a serious job and as such it requires a serious and committed person.

Therefore, it is quite worrying if corruption cases are hanging on the neck of an individual who is going to look after the national coffers and has so far unwilling to seriously disprove such allegations.

My dear reader, isn’t it quite ironic when Mahama keeps stressing that unlike the current president, he will clampdown on bribery and corruption and won’t behave as a ‘clearing agent’?

With all due respect, if His Excellency former President Mahama indeed has the will and commitment to fight the menace of bribery and corruption, why did he fail to investigate and prosecute the alleged offenders in the bribery and corruption scandals in the infamous Bus Branding, the Brazilian Aircrafts, the Brazil World Cup, the alleged GH12 million import tax evasion by the sibling of former President Mahama, Ibrahim Mahama, SADA, SUBA, GYEEDA, SSNIT, NCA, MASLOC, the furtive Ford Expedition Vehicle, the Woyome’s 51.2 million dubious judgement debt, the Waterville’s $30 million wrongful payment, the Isofoton’s dubious payment of $325,000, among others?

My dear reader, wasn’t former president Mahama who secretly accepted a brand new Ford Expedition vehicle worth over $100,000 from a Burkinabe Contractor called Djibril Kanazoe, whom he allegedly showered with Government of Ghana contracts?

Isn’t former President John Dramani Mahama who has been named as Government Official 1 in the alleged Airbus bribery and corruption scandals ?

Is he not the one who is being fingered in the bribery and corruption scandals in the Airbus, SADA, GYEEDA, SUBA, NCA, SSNIT, the infamous Bus Branding, the Brazil World Cup, the STX housing deal, the Brazilian aircrafts, the Ford Expedition Vehicle, the Armajaro saga, among others?

Wasn’t the Mahama administration that surreptitiously diverted $6 million of the $175 million loan facility meant to provide seven district hospitals into researching the then governing NDC’s chances of winning the 2016 general elections?

According to the report, although SCL Social was given $6 million to carry out a nationwide survey to provide appropriate data for the proper planning of the healthcare needs of Ghana, the NDC government led by Ex-President Mahama deemed it fit to divert the loan facility for their internal research at the expense of the sick and infirm Ghanaians. How insensitive?

Sometime in 2012, the Attorney-General under Mills/Mahama administration, Martin Amidu, audaciously came out and told Ghanaians that the late President Mills set up a committee to investigate a suspicious Brazilian Aircrafts deal negotiated by the then Vice President Mahama.

Besides, subsequent to the embarrassing Airbus bribery and corruption scandal between 2009 and 2015, President Akufo-Addo tasked the then Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu to establish the identity of the said Government Official One who allegedly took bribe in the international thematic report.

The Special Prosecutor regrettably concluded in 2020 that the said Government Official 1 in the Airbus bribery scandal was the former president and the 2020 flagbearer of NDC, John Dramani Mahama.

If you may also remember, a few years ago, four courageous Ghanaians petitioned the then Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu to probe into the alleged E.O. Group’s $13 million corporate social responsibility fund towards the development of the Western Region which the petitioners claimed to have been diverted by Ex-President Mahama (See: ‘Mahama diverted $13m E.O. Group money; probe him – Four citizens petition Amidu’-todaygh.com/ghanaweb.com, 18/06/2018).

As if that was not enough, a group of patriotic Ghanaians petitioned the Special Prosecutor to probe the alleged oil money of GH40.5 million which was surreptitiously transferred to the presidency, via the then Chief of Staff (See: ‘Group explains why Amidu must probe Mahama, Debrah in GH¢40.5m BOST payment’; myjoyonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 19/09/2018).

If we take a stroll down memory lane, sometime in October 2010, the British media brought up reports about how the then Vice President John Dramani Mahama was lobbied by a British Cabinet Minister to get a reprieve for the ban imposed on Armajaro Holdings, one of the cocoa buying companies who were found guilty for smuggling the commodity out of Ghana.

It would be recalled that Armajaro Company was banned together with a few other companies, when the award winning investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas exposed the smuggling of bags of cocoa into neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire.

Shockingly, the British media reported that subsequent to the meeting between the then Vice President John Dramani Mahama and the British Cabinet Minister, Armajaro Company was given a reprieve and then started its operations.

In 2012, the Parliament of Ghana approved a loan of 200 million United States dollars, an equivalent of GH3.2 billion to build 5000 affordable housing units.

However, the erstwhile Mahama administration allegedly readjusted the original contract on the blind side of the Parliament of Ghana and initially reduced the housing units to 1502 and further reduced to 1412.

What is more disturbing, is that the outgone Mahama administration allegedly used the 200 million United States dollars(GH3.2 billion) to build only 668 housing units instead of 5,000.

Former President Mahama and his praise singing supporters can keep claiming birth right to incorruptibility, but discerning Ghanaians would only take him seriously if he comes clean on the alleged bribery and corruption scandals hanging on his neck.

K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com