Car gift: Minority may impeach Mahama – Akomea

Given that the Minority Members of Parliament are convinced that President John Dramani Mahama misconducted himself in the Ford Expedition car gifted him by a Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, who has been given a series of contracts by the government of Ghana, it may initiate impeachment procedures against the president, Nana Akomea, Director of Communication for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said.

The Minority in Parliament has hinted of a possible impeachment of President John Mahama for taking a Ford Expedition. According to the Minority Spokesperson on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Joe Osei-Owusu, the gift was a bribe to influence the president to give out juicy deals to the said contractor, citing a conflict of interest.

Speaking on TV3’s New Day programme on Saturday June 18, 2016, Nana Akomea said: “If the Minority believes that he (President Mahama) has infringed on those guidelines and he has brought the office of the president into disrepute, they are entirely within their means to take action as the laws provide.”

Nana Akomea urged that discussions on the issue should not end in the media but should be taken to a more a professional level such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

He recounted that when former President John Kufuor was caught in a similar situation during his time as leader of the country, the then Minority in Parliament, led by Alban Bagbin, took Mr Kufuor to CHRAJ, hence if the same has been established in the case of Mr Mahama, the matter should be taken to the human rights body.

“If there is an allegation that the president of the country has engaged in this kind of conduct, I will be surprised if we just limit it at the level of television debate,” he noted.

He said it had been alleged at the time that an individual had paid for security installations at Mr Kufuor’s private residence. Many had asked why an individual could undertake such work for the president of the country as it amounted to conflict of interest since that individual could ride on that to gain undue advantage or favour. “Those were the standards of the NDC [National Democratic Congress]…so they took President Kufuor to CHRAJ…because that person could put President Kufour in a conflict of interest,” he recounted.

“Assuming next year that man is looking for a contract and they took him to CHRAJ. So, I am sure people will want to take this matter to CHRAJ, the Minority may want to apply what the law provides as far as conduct is concerned and so on.”

Also commenting on the same programme, Abraham Amaliba, a member of the legal team of the NDC, said there was no ill motive in the vehicle gifted Mr Mahama given documentation on the vehicle was available.

According to him, nobody who intends to engage in bribery will ensure proper documentation on the item involved, but to the extent that proper documentation had been prepared on the Ford Expedition vehicle in question, Mr Mahama could not have engaged in any wrong doing.

He described the report as “a cock and bull” story.