Who is accusing Mahama of unbridled bribery and corruption?

I took time off and painstakingly skimmed through the news archives with the sole aim of finding any bribery and corruption allegation that has been levelled against Dr Bawumia.

Needless to say, after diligently perusing through voluminous pages, Bawumia’s incorruptible descriptive label appeared intact, as there were no accusations of any bribery and corruption scandals.

On the other hand, there are numerous corruption allegations hanging on the neck of former President Mahama which largely led to NDC’s 2016 humiliating election defeat.

Therefore, it is somewhat ironic listening to former President John Dramani Mahama evocatively giving cacophonous 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 befuddled over Mahama’s insipid anti-corruption sermons. I am indeed besotted. Wonders shall never end, our elders say.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the President of a nation is a serious job and as such it requires a serious and a 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, it is quite bizarre 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?

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?

Apparently, in the infamous Bus branding, it was the late Dzifa Ativor who voluntarily resigned, and it wasn’t the anti-corruption crusader, former President Mahama, who took a strong stance and sacked her from his administration.

Besides, the suspects in the GYEEDA and SSNIT scandals were convicted and sentenced to prison a few years ago under the current NPP administration.

The crucial question every concerned Ghanaian should be asking then is: how many opposition bribery and corruption suspects did Mahama arraign before a competent court of jurisdiction during his tenure in office?

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 the 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.

And, 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 another development, sometime in 2009, the Mills/Mahama administration promised that a certain STX Housing deal was going to provide about 200,000 affordable housing units to the country’s security agencies at an estimated cost of $10 billion.

However, due to an unpardonable negligence on the part of Mills/Mahama administration and the boardroom tussle between the project supervisors– STX Korea and GKA Airports Company Limited (STX Ghana), the deal unfortunately hit a dead-end.

The late President Mills had this to say during a press conference: “we have some difficulties with the STX project and as a president I am eating a humble pie to say that we are looking for alternatives.”

It was later reported that Ghana had allegedly lost a staggering $300 million in spite of the fact that the deal did not materialise.

Interestingly, sources had it that at all material times, it was the then vice president, John Dramani Mahama’s office that handled issues concerning the STX Housing deal.

Strangely though, President Mills of blessed memory seemed apocalyptic about the whole deal, judging from his state of the nation address in 2010, when he had this to say: “the Vice President had travelled to Seoul, Korea, to nail the coffin' of STX.”

We can, recollect, albeit with extreme sadness, that although the STX Housing loan agreement which was supposed to provide affordable housing units to the security agencies did not materialise, yet the then vice president, John Dramani Mahama, is alleged to have given us a bill in excess of $300 million. How strange?

In a related development, after the failed deal with STX to build 200,000 housing units for the nation's security agencies, the NDC administration entered into another deal with the GUMA Group for the construction of 500 housing units.

The deal which was alleged to have negotiated by the then vice president, John Dramani Mahama, was widely criticised by various stakeholders, just as the STX deal, following the decision to side-line local construction firms in favour of the foreign company. The unusually high cost of the project was also a source of concern to many.

Some observers thus believe that it was due to the countless dubious agreements which made Ghana’s debt ballooned from an arguable meagre GH9.5 billion in 2009 to an incredible GH122.4 billion by December 2016 with a little to show for.

As if those allegations were not enough, former Joy FM’s investigative journalist, Manasseh Azuri exposed President Mahama’s furtive gift of a brand new Ford Expedition vehicle, worth over $100,000 by the Burkinabe Contractor called Djibril Kanazoe.

According to Manasseh Azuri’s report, the Burkinabe Contractor Kanazoe had undertaken a number of contracts which were secured through sole-sourcing and handpicking, amid allegations of president Mahama’s influence.

Manasseh reported that Djibril Kanazoe had over the years been bidding for contracts in the country. However, he was not successful until a middleman led him to meet then Vice President Mahama.

Subsequent to meeting the then Vice President Mahama, Kanazoe was handpicked to build the $650,000 Ghana Embassy fence wall in Burkina Faso.

According to Manasseh Azuri, in September 2014, when officials of the Bank of Ghana met the Public Accounts Committee of Ghana Parliament (PAC), it came to light that an amount of $656, 246.48 had been spent on the construction of a fence wall over a parcel of land belonging to the Ghana Embassy in Burkina Faso.

Unsurprisingly, PAC requested the Bank of Ghana to look into what it referred to as: “the outrageous” cost of the project.

However, it came to light that the procurement process was violated to the advantage of President Mahama’s Burkinabe friend.

Amazingly, during an interview with Manasseh, Djibril Kanazoe admitted that he did not put in a bid for the contract. However, the Ghana Embassy in Ouagadougou wrote to his company to request price quotations for the project. He however forwarded the necessary quotes and was selected.

“Subsequently, the Burkinabe contractor delivered to President Mahama, the ‘gift’ of a brand new Ford Expedition vehicle in 2012, the same year his company was selected, again through sole-sourcing, to execute more projects” (See: ‘Burkinabe Contractor offers controversial gift to President Mahama’ ; myjoyonline.com, 15/06/2015).

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 bandwagon 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.