President John Dramani Mahama has come under fierce criticism from a section of the public after he declared two cars presented to him as gifts as part of the demands of his newly launched Code of Conduct.

Despite declaring the gifts and subsequently returning them to the state for official use, critics have argued that, given his position as the highest officeholder in the land, he should have outrightly rejected the gift to avoid any impression of impropriety.

The declaration and handing over, which took place at the Jubilee House, followed the official launch of the Code of Conduct for political appointees, a new policy framework aimed at reinforcing ethical standards and combating corruption within the government.

The handing over was witnessed by a small group of senior government officials and presidential staff.

The two gifted vehicles were seen being driven and inspected within the Jubilee House grounds before it was officially transferred.

However, critics maintain a different view. Here are some persons who have chastised the president over the gifts:

Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante

One of the personalities who have slammed the president over the controversy is the Director of Policy Engagements and Partnerships at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante.

Dr Asante, in an interview with JoyNews on May 6, 2025, expressed strong disapproval of the president’s actions, stating that accepting such a gift could compromise both his position and the integrity of the presidency.

He raised concerns about the potential for the president to be influenced by these gifts.

“I think it's a no, no, because these are high-value gifts. How are you going to determine whether the President gets influenced or not in those kinds of scenarios? Inasmuch as we want to discourage private individuals or people of any kind, it's the President we are talking about and the president has a lot of power to create these kinds of conflict-of-interest scenarios that you can’t really cure because it's very difficult to establish any benefit one way or the other,” he said.

Charles Owusu

A former Head of the Monitoring Unit at the Forestry Commission has also weighed in on the issue, expressing the view that the president should have directed the individuals behind the gifts to present them directly to the state if that was ultimately where they would end up.

“One thing I don’t understand is the cars that were gifted to President Mahama. What was the reasoning behind the gifts? Who gave him the cars? If you were taking the cars to hand them over to the state, then you should have directed the person to have directly given it to the state…,” he said on Peace FM on May 7, 2025.

Michael Okyere Baafi

The Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, sharing his view, stated that the president breached the very code of conduct he has instructed his appointees to adhere to.

He further added that the president should have rejected the gift outright or, alternatively, directed the individuals who offered it to donate it directly to state institutions.

“… Why is he (Mahama) the only one always receiving car gifts? Does it matter if he has handed it over to the state? He shouldn’t have accepted it to avoid any controversy or people twisting the issues and politicizing it. He had the right to have rejected and directed the people to have gifted the vehicles to any state institution… This is bad,” he said on Asempa FM on May 6, 2025.

MAG/VPO

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