Mahama is the fourth richest with an estimated network of $900M, are you ‘kidding’ me?

I thought I was dreaming upon skimming through the list of the ten richest Ghanaians in 2022, in which former President, Mahama is purported to be the fourth richest with an estimated network of $900M.

Well, I was not dreaming, indeed, several websites have been citing John Dramani Mahama as the fourth richest Ghanaian in 2022.

We would, therefore, like to take this opportunity to give him a hand for working so hard and achieving so much for himself over the years. More grease to your elbow, Your Excellency.

The crucial question then is: if indeed the former president has done well for himself over the years, why are so many alleged bribery and corruption scandals hanging around his neck?

Some observers think that former President Mahama has more alleged bribery and corruption scandals hanging around his neck than any other president in the history of Ghanaian politics.

The sceptics insist that the former president has serious questions to answer over the puzzling corruption scandals such as the Airbus, SADA, GYEEDA, SUBA, NCA, SSNIT, the infamous Bus Branding, the Brazil World Cup, the STX housing deal, the Brazilian aircraft, the Ford Expedition Vehicle, the Armajaro saga, among others.

The critics have been wondering how and why the extremely rich former president can secretly accept a gift of a brand new Ford Expedition vehicle worth over $100,000 from a Burkinabe contractor called Djibril Kanazoe.

As if that was not enough, the Attorney-General under the Mills/Mahama administration, Martin Amidu, audaciously came out and told Ghanaians that the late President Mills set up a committee to investigate a suspicious Brazilian Aircraft deal negotiated by the then Vice President, Mahama.

If you would also recall, following the embarrassing Airbus bribery and corruption scandal between 2009 and 2015, President Akufo-Addo tasked the then Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu to establish the identity of the said government official One who allegedly took a bribe in the international thematic report.

The Special Prosecutor sadly concluded in 2020 that the said Government Official 1 in the Airbus bribery scandal was the former president and the 2020 flagbearer of NDC, John Dramani Mahama.

The report however stressed that since we were in the election period and the said protagonist was a presidential candidate, the Office of the Special Prosecutor was not in a position to take any immediate action.

Nevertheless, the current Special Prosecutor is seriously probing into the alleged involvement of Mahama in the Airbus bribery and corruption scandal between 2009 and 2015.

If we take a stroll down memory lane, sometime in October 2010, the British media brought up a chilling report about how then-Vice President, John
Dramani Mahama was allegedly lobbied by a British Cabinet Minister to get a reprieve for the ban imposed on Armajaro Holdings, one of the cocoa-buying companies that were found guilty of smuggling the commodity out of Ghana.

Armajaro Company was banned together with a few other companies, when the award
winning investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas exposed the smuggling of bags of cocoa into neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire.

Shockingly, however, the British media reported that after the meeting between then Vice President John Dramani Mahama and the British Cabinet
Minister, Armajaro Company was given a needless reprieve and then started its operations.

A few years ago, the investigative journalist, Manasseh, reported that the Burkinabe Contractor Djibril Kanazoe had over the years been bidding for contracts in the country.

However, he was not successful until a middleman led him to meet Mahama.

After meeting Mahama, Kanazoe was allegedly handpicked to build the $650,000 Ghana Embassy fence wall in Burkina Faso.

The account is given, that in September 2014, when officials of the Bank of Ghana met the Public Accounts Committee of Ghana Parliament (PAC), it came to light that an amount of $656, 246.48 had been spent on the construction of a fence wall over a parcel of land belonging to the Ghana Embassy in Burkina Faso.

PAC requested the Bank of Ghana to look into what it referred to as: “the outrageous” cost of the project.

However, it came to light that the procurement process was breached to the advantage of Mahama’s Burkinabe friend.

Amazingly, during an interview with Manasseh, Djibril Kanazoe admitted that he did not put in a bid for the contract, however, the Ghana Embassy in Ouagadougou wrote to his company to request price quotations for the project. He, however, forwarded the necessary quotes and was selected.

The report concludes that the Burkinabe contractor eventually gave President Mahama a handsome gift of a brand new Ford Expedition vehicle in 2012, the same year his company was selected, again through sole-sourcing, to execute more projects (See: ‘Burkinabe Contractor offers a controversial gift to President Mahama’; myjoyonline.com, 15/06/2015).

Let’s face it, the president of a nation is a serious position and as such it requires someone with impeccable integrity and unmatched commitment, therefore, it is quite worrying if serious bribery and corruption allegations are hanging on the neck of an individual who is seeking to return to the presidency and unwilling to disprove such allegations.