Trust me, there is no serious country on earth where Mahama can stage a presidential comeback(III)

Anyone who has passing familiarity with the revoltingly ugly events which took place during the erstwhile NDC administration would be extremely surprised to hear that former President Mahama is evocatively accusing his successor of not doing enough to combat the wanton bribery and corruption.

I have always held a firm and unadulterated conviction that a fantastically corrupt public servant is no less a human rights abuser than the weirdo Adolf Hitler.

This is because while the enigmatic Adolf Hitler went into a conniption-fit and barbarically exterminated innocent people with lethal chemicals and sophisticated weapons, a contemporary corrupt public servant is disgustingly bent on suffocating innocent citizens through wanton bribery and corruption.

Consequently, the innocent citizens would often end up facing untold economic hardships, starvation, depression, emotional labour and squalor which send them to their early graves.

Dearest reader, take my word for it, I am not seeking to ‘play God’ and pass judgment, far from it. But for the sake of balanced annotation and to set the records straight, I shall grub into the regrettable events which took place during former President Mahama’s coarse administration.

Apparently, some observers believe 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 aircrafts, the Ford Expedition Vehicle, the Armajaro saga, among others.

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

It was, therefore, quite ironic when Ex-President John Dramani Mahama dared President Akufo-Addo to arrest, investigate and prosecute him or any member of his administration if there is incontrovertible evidence to suggest that they amassed wealth illegally during their time in office (See: Catch the ‘supposed’ thieves to prove your charges – Mahama dares Akufo-Addo; ghanaweb.com, 30/04/2018).

Subsequent to former President Mahama’s arousing disgust over the corruption allegations, four courageous Ghanaians petitioned the then Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu to probe into the alleged E.O. Group’s $13 million corporate social responsibility fund towards the development of the Western Region which the petitioners claimed to have been diverted by Ex-President Mahama (See: ‘Mahama diverted $13m E.O. Group money; probe him – Four citizens petition Amidu’-todaygh.com/ghanaweb.com, 18/06/2018).

As if that was not enough, we woke up to the regrettable news of alleged oil money of GH40.5 million which was surreptitiously transferred to the presidency, via the then Chief of Staff (See: ‘Group explains why Amidu must probe Mahama, Debrah in GH¢40.5m BOST payment’; myjoyonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 19/09/2018).

Well, I thought I was dreaming when I chanced on the unfortunate news about the misappropriation of $175 million loan facility secured in 2012 which was meant to provide seven district hospitals. But I was not. I was wide awake. The NDC administration indeed misapplied the loan facility on the blind side of Ghanaians.

Unfortunately, the erstwhile NDC administration surreptitiously diverted $6 million of a government loan facility of $175 million meant to provide seven district hospitals into researching the then governing NDC’s chances of winning the 2016 general elections.

The clandestine research was alleged to have carried out by the United Kingdom based SCL Social, the mother company of Cambridge Analytica.

According to the report, although SCL Social was given $6 million to carry out a nationwide survey to provide appropriate data for the proper planning of the healthcare needs of Ghana, the NDC government led by Ex-President Mahama deemed it fit to divert the loan facility for their internal research at the expense of the sick and infirm Ghanaians. How insensitive?

The contractors, SCL Social, admitted: “The work consists of two discrete political and public health elements. The political element is testing the attitudes and perceptions of the population towards contemporary issues faced in Ghana and public confidence in the capacity and competence of the current administration to implement appropriate timely solutions. As well as the current level of satisfaction regarding the performance of the NDC at district, regional and national level is also tested and the research incorporates how this may translate into future electoral success.”

If we do the arithmetic of the $175 million loan facility which was supposed to provide seven district hospitals, each hospital should have cost us $25 million.

Nevertheless, credible sources have it that out of the seven district hospitals, only the one in Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region received the full funding and was thus completed successfully.

The overarching question then is: where is the rest of the $175 million loan facility?

The vineyard news has it that during his State of the Nation Address on 19th February 2009, the late President Mills informed the Parliament that his government was looking into the decision to acquire two executive Presidential jets.

However, the late President Mills had doubts over the acquisition of the aircrafts later on and thus observed: "Ghana simply cannot afford the expenditure at this time and we certainly do not need two Presidential Jets" (thestatesmanonline.com, 16/06/2016).

Strangely, whilst the late Mills was happily delivering his tuneful state of the nation address, the Vice President John Mahama, who also happened to be the chairman of the Armed Forces Council, was blissfully entertaining delegations from Brazil and busily negotiating the acquisition of five jets, including the most expensive hangar without the knowledge of the late President Mills.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, the late President Mills became suspicious of the whole deal and decided to put a committee together to review the deal, according to Mr Martin Amidu, the Attorney General under the Mills/Mahama administration.

Disappointingly, though, according to Martin Amidu, the late Mills could not put his foot down and woefully allowed the committee to somehow turn a blind eye to his directives (Source: martinamidu.com).

There are serious questions here that His Excellency Ex-President Mahama must answer. In fact, it was not surprising that some patriotic Ghanaians deemed it fit to take him to the Special Prosecutor.

Ex-President Mahama and his teeming supporters can claim birth right to incorruptibility, but discerning Ghanaians can only take him seriously if he comes clean on the alleged bribery and corruption scandals.

How can we advance as a nation when individuals keep hiding behind party coloration, devoid of patriotism and rapaciously squandering our scarce resources to the detriment of the poor and disadvantage Ghanaians?

A few years ago, Ex-President Mahama was reported to have lamented inexorably: “Instead of focusing on the job to make Ghana a better place, every day they complain that an amount of money has gone missing. If money has been lost, conduct the investigation and arrest the perpetrators. Who has the power?”

But contrary to former President Mahama’s incessant denials of rampant corruption in his administration, a competent court of jurisdiction convicted four of the numerous corruption suspects in the erstwhile NDC administration and sentenced them to prison.

Interestingly, some concerned Ghanaians maintain that the sins of the four convicts are meagre in comparison with the other scandalous corruption cases which took place in the erstwhile Mahama administration.

That notwithstanding, the unhappy former President Mahama lamented: “This trial by newspaper affects the credibility of the government. If you hear that several sums of money have gone missing yet no one has been arrested for prosecution, then you are destroying the confidence of people in the credibility of the government. So the trial by media must stop (ghanaweb.com).”

Perhaps someone ought to inform Ex-President Mahama that there are more cases pending. Take, for example, on 14th March 2018, the State filed a case of causing financial loss against the former Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD and the CEO of Zeera Group of Companies and Agricult Ghana Limited, who are being accused of embezzling over GH260 million under the watch of former President Mahama.

In addition, the alleged SSNIT $72 million corruption scandal is in the law court. And, the suspects in the NCA corruption scandal have been convicted and sentenced to prison.

Besides, credible sources have confided in some of us that investigations are progressing steadily in a number of bribery and corruption cases which took place in the outgone Mahama’s administration.

There is also a possibility of the double salary NDC Members of Parliament having their day in the law courts.

We should, also, take solace in the fact that President Akufo-Addo has established the Office of the Special Prosecutor with the responsibility of investigating, prosecuting and retrieving stolen monies from the corrupt public officials, including alleged corrupt appointees of Akufo-Addo and Mahama administrations.

It is, therefore, a step in the right direction for the Office of the Special Prosecutor to resume the investigation of former President Mahama’s alleged involvement in the disgusting Airbus bribery and corruption scandal a few years ago.

Isn’t it somewhat refreshing that the justice system is going to descend heavily not only on the goat, cassava and plantain thieves, but as well as the impenitent criminals who hide behind narrow political colorations?

K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com



K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com