Don’t be quick to judge Mahama on car gift – PC Appiah Ofori

Anti-corruption Campaigner and former NPP Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odebeng-Brakwa, PC Appiah Ofori says Ghanaians should not be in a haste to tag President John Dramani Mahama as corrupt until further inquiries and details into his car gift are made known.

He posed series of questions which he noted must be answered before any false accusation is tagged to the first gentleman – “Was the gift given to him in his capacity as a president or just on friends ground? What is the motive behind the gift from the contractor?”

Ghanaians are outraged after Joy News’ Manasseh Azure in a latest investigation claims President John Dramani Mahama (then Vice President) was presented with a new Ford Expedition vehicle as a gift by a Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, purportedly for helping him to secure contracts for fencing Ghana’s embassy in Burkina Faso and also winning a 46.4km European Union funded Dodo-Pepesu Road Contract.

According to reports, in 2014 Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee ordered the Bank of Ghana to investigate the transaction when the cost of the project came up.

But checks by journalist Manasseh Azure revealed the Bank did not undertake the investigation.

However, speaking on NEAT FM’s morning show 'Ghana Montie', the former lawmaker lamented that, per the account from the Communications Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah – the alleged car is currently serving governmental purposes and not that of the president's private errands.

This he said is no offence as alleged by many political commentators – “The car is for the state and not for the president.”

“If the car is for the president, then one can conclude that, that is corruption, but if the car is for the state, then it is not. The president is innocent until proven otherwise.”