Owusu-Bempah 'descends' on Mahama over his 'I won't protect Akufo-Addo's legacy of corruption' comment

A Deputy Director of Communications for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ernest Owusu-Bempah, has lashed out at former President John Dramani Mahama for his response to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s assertion that he (Mahama) would not protect the sitting president's legacy if voted into office again.

Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in a post shared on X on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, stated that President Akufo-Addo’s legacy during his tenure includes corruption, ineptitude, arrogance, misgovernance, and inflicting more hardship on the general populace without making any meaningful impact.

He stated that he would not protect such a negative legacy, which would worsen the woes of Ghanaians, but would instead introduce measures to eradicate them to make the nation a better place to live.

"Of course, I will not protect your 'legacy' of corruption, misgovernance, arrogance, ineptitude, bankrupt economy, increased unemployment, and pushing more of our people into the poverty bracket," he wrote.

Reacting to the former president’s remarks, Ernest Owusu-Bempah, in a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, said that Mahama is the last person in the country to preach about corruption.

He accused the former president of engaging in and supervising acts of corruption when he was in office.

"What would you say if Osama Bin Laden called someone a 'terrorist', if a prostitute called another woman a 'whore', or if North Korea’s Kim Jong Un called another leader a 'dictator'? No doubt you would probably die laughing at the irony. Yet we in Ghana have tolerated a character that epitomizes irony to the extent that his utterances have now gone beyond the pale.

"And so, what exactly was Mahama up to when he talks about the fact that he would not protect Akufo-Addo’s legacy of corruption and misgovernance? I fear many Ghanaians still labor under the delusion that Mahama is an option, but there comes a time in a nation’s journey to prosperity when distractions must not be tolerated when we stand up and look the devil in the eyes and say there's no place here for you," he wrote.

The NPP communicator added, "Mahama can't talk about corruption because the man himself is an embodiment of corruption."

He went on to list corruption allegations leveled at the former president and his government, including the GYEEDA scandal and the SADA scandal.

Read Owusu-Bempah’s full statement below:

We will take morality and corruption advise from anywhere but certainly not Mahama’s brothel
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Guys, what would you say if Osama Bin Laden called someone a “terrorist”, if a prostitute called another woman a “whore”, or if North Korean’s Kim Jong Un called another leader a “dictator?” No doubt you would probable die laughing at the irony. Yet we in Ghana have tolerated a character that epitomizes irony to the extent that his utterances have now gone beyond the pale.

It all began in late 2007 when the then NDC flagbearer, Prof John Atta-Mills asked him to be on the ticket with him for the 2008 presidential elections.

Well, it came to pass that Mills won and that was the beginning of a different brand of political corruption spearheaded by John Mahama.

President Mills couldn’t finish his term of office and the baton was handed over to John Mahama. When this corrupt politician took over an unplanned leadership of the country, corruption blossomed like never before.

The long view of history will count a broader catalogue of corruption under Mahama’s presidency.

Power doesn’t get much more entrusted than that. His regime was buffered by several corruption scandals that cost the state huge sums of money in lost revenue and, some cases embarrassed the country.

Mahama supervised a corrosive culture of corruption. Talk of the bus branding corruption, where investigations into the branding of 116 Metro Mass Transit Buses involving GH¢3.6 million revealed that the company contracted, Smarthys, over-billed the government to the tune of GH¢1.9 million.

The owner of the company, who later returned GH¢1.548,608.04 to the government chest happened to be a close associate of Mahama.

Again, the GYEEDA scandal which cost the state millions of cedis. There was also the SADA corruption, where over GH¢32 million paid to ACICL to plant five million trees in the Savannah zone were never accounted for.

The same SADA report found out that SADA spent GH¢15 million on guinea fowls, but could only account for a few birds.

There was also a bribery scandal involving Mahama and a Burkinabe businessman, Djibril Kanazoe who was said to have won two major contracts worth over GH¢100 million.

In fact, the recent court ruling where two former Mahama appointees were found guilty on 78 counts relating to causing financial loss to the state, theft, conspiracy to steal, money laundering, and contravening public procurement laws, and we’re jailed 10 and 5 years respectively speak volumes.

And so, what exactly was Mahama up to when he talked about the fact that he will not protect Akufo-Addo’s legacy of Corruption and Misgovernance?

I fear lots of Ghanaians still labour under the delusion that Mahama is an option, but there comes a time in a nation’s journey to prosperity when distractions must not be tolerated, when we stand up and look the devil in the eyes and say there’s no place here for you.

Mahama can’t talk about corruption because the man himself is an embodiment of corruption.

Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah Bonsu
Deputy Director of Operations, NPP

BAI/AE

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