“At my age and disposition,” said one British comedian, “every year without a tombstone, is a milestone.” When the comedian made this pronouncement on one of the many television channels in Her Majesty’s Great Britain, I was a very energetic young man living in London. My stay, I must confess, was at the at the mercy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
In those days when the law in my native country was the gospel according to Jerry John Rawlings and those who claim to believe in him, politicians and journalists with liberal thoughts were endangered species.
Since returning home in 1997 to take up the challenge of editing this paper, I have gone through a lot. Of late, past the biblical 70 years, I have been taking it cool and waiting on the Lord, which explains why this column has not been very regular.
On Monday, I managed to drag the old bones, guided by the ancestral spirits of Anona Ebusua’s ‘Ekoo Tse Brofo’ spirit to the office, for a job on the 24-hour noise that is being promoted, as the panacea for all ills in the Ghanaian society.
I was on my way home from work when radio broke the news. That Mr. Sammy Gyamfi, the Communications Director of the party Jerry John Rawlings founded from the remnants of his rag-tag military regime, had held a press conference and claimed that his boss, Mr. John Dramani Mahama is incorruptible.
Mr. Gyamfi told the world of Ghana politics that the state coffers were very safe with the former President, while Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, according to the head of the NDC communication unit, was susceptible and should not be allowed anywhere near the presidency.
This, dear reader, is what has spurred the old man on to sacrifice the comfort of retirement and rush back to his desk at the office. Already, following the notice in The Chronicle yesterday, a number of readers have called me on the phone, expressing their eagerness to read my response to Mr. Sammy Gyamfi.
I intend doing justice to this issue, not only in today’s paper. It will take a number of column inches to really do justice to the issue. I am offering my services for the sake of Mother Ghana.
Read the lips of the communication director, at his meeting with the press: “HE John Dramani Mahama has demonstrated, both in government and out of government, that he detests corruption and will never condone corruption nor shield perpetrators of corrupt acts.
He has stated clearly that the days of the corruption clearing agent will come to an end on January 7, 2025 when by the grace of God he assumes office as President. He has said and demonstrated before that the sword of the fight against corruption will cut both ways under his government, whether you are a member of his government. John Mahama is incorruptible.”
Read Mr.Gyamfi further: “Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about our main opponent in the coming 2024 general elections. I am talking about Alhaji Bawumia, the failed Vice-President and Chair of the Economic Management Team, the clueless drivers’ mate and discredited Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, who has proven not only to be dishonest but also very corrupt.”
In the first place, is this how politics in Ghana has descended into the gutters? That as a qualified lawyer, you could call the media and say your opponent is proven corrupt, with no shred of evidence? Sammy Gyamfi is a lawyer. Whether or not he has ever practiced is another matter.
I think it is irresponsible for a lawyer to make allegations and call them proven, when he knows that no court of competent jurisdiction has ever made such a pronouncement on the Vice-President. You could allude to corruption as a canker in the administration of which Alhaji Bawumia is the Vice-President. But to call the man corrupt, without a shred of evidence, is way below the belt.
My intention is to give clues to debunk the notion that Mr. John Dramani Mahama, the former President seeking a return to the Jubilee House, cannot in the holy name pf the Almighty be described as incorruptible.
In other issues, I will try and put Mr Mahama and Dr. Bwaumia on the scale, for Ghanaians to judge who has demonstrated instances of corruption while in government.
Many Ghanaians may not know this,but Mr. Mahama must be one of the richest Ghanaians alive. According to various publications citing the Forbes magazine of the United States that ranks the rich of this world, Mr. Mahama is worth a cool US$900 million. You read it right-900 million United States Dollars.
I am unable to verify whether the former head of state is worth that amount of money. What I do know from what he has demonstrated so far is that the one-time Member of Parliament must be very rich. It takes a very rich man to fund an entire political party on his own. At least, the NDC told the world that Mr. Mahama single-handedly funded the party’s primaries recently.
For all I know, the come-back kid seeking to return to Jubilee House has worked most of his adult life in government. Apart from his early formative years when he was employed by the Japan International Co-Operation Agency, all Mahama’s life-long employment has been in government.
He has been Member of Parliament for Bole/Bamboi, Deputy Minister of Communications, Minister of Communications, Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana and President of Ghana.
I do not think he worked for more than five years with JICA. As an employee, it is irrational to suggest that the employment with the Japanese agency would make him that rich, which leaves his employment with the state as the likely source of his income.
On May 12, 2016 Nigerian journalist Peter Okocha, working for the BBC, encountered Mr. Mahama, then President of the Republic of Ghana during an anti-corruption confab in London. The former President appeared uncomfortable when it came to answering a question on bribery and corruption. Below is an excerpt from the BBC interview;
BBC:Mr. President, have you been offered a bribe before?
Mr. Mahama: You mean as President?
BBC: As John Dramani Mahama.
Mr. Mahama: As a human being?
BBC: As a person.
Mr. Mahama: Any human being in the world would have encountered corruption in one way or other, either being offered a bribe or demanded from you. What you need to do is to put yourself in a position that …
BBC: Mr. President, did you take it?
Mr. Mahama: No I haven’t taken a bribe…
As the 2016 election was heating up, it emerged that a Burkinabe contractor, Mr. Djibril Kanozoe had, in 2012, presented a Ford Exhibition valued at US$100,000 to then President Mahama, following the execution of a wall contract around the Ghana Embassy in Ouagadogou. A number of Ghanaians with knowledge in the construction business opined that the $650,000 paid for the wall was excessive.
While Ghanaians poo-pooed the cost of the contract and the offer of the vehicle, Communication Minister, Dr. Omane Boamah told the nation that there was nothing fishy about the deal and that the vehicle had been put into general use at the then Flagstaff House.
Not many Ghanaians bought into the minister’s explanation, especially when it emerged that the Burkinabe had been offered a juicy contract on the Eastern corridor roader after the presentation of the gift.
You make matters worse for the then Head of State, Mr. Mahama, who paid a visit to the construction site on the Eastern corridor road and praised the contractor into the high heavens.
The siting President at the time invited all Ghanaian contractors to come over and learn from the Burkinabe contractor’s excellent job.
It did not take long for the love affair to go sour.
It took one rainfall for the contractor’s poor job to be exposed. Like the case of the yet to be resolved guinea fowl migration, Mr. Kanozoevamoosed to his native country. Up till now, the contractor has not been chased to account for his poor job.
Mahama has been bad for this nation when it comes to accountability. Do you remember the infamous Embraer plane contracted from Brazil? As Vice-President, Mr. Mahama led an expedition to acquire an aircraft for use by the Ghana Air Force.
It came to pass that price was inflated way beyond the internationally advertised cost. There are no prizes for guessing the volume and muddy nature of the water that went under the bridge in official explanation.
According to official account, those who led the exhibition asked for other fittings in the air force transport plane, pushing the cost through the roof.
Mr. Mahama’s boss, then sitting President John Evans Atta Mills, was reported to be so furious that he ordered an inquiry into the purchase agreement. Sad to state that it did not take long for Prof. Mills to die in circumstances that have still not been resolved.
In the next issue, I will look at various shady deals under Mahama’s Presidency, including the scandal of the airbus purchase, under which the former President’s brother and three friends of his, re-located from Britain to Ghana and the emergence of Government Official One.
To state that the Airbus scandal soiled the name of Ghana at the Southwark Crown Court in London is an understatement.
There is more, all in The Chronicle near you.
I shall return!
Ebo Quansah in Accra
