By William
Yaw Owusu
Thursday
June 21, 2018
The unprovoked attacks by former President John
Dramani Mahama, through his spokeswoman, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, on President Akufo-Addo,
have attracted the attention of New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The ruling party, in a statement issued and signed
by acting General Secretary John Boadu, said, “Mahama, rather than Akufo-Addo,
being incorruptible, we find this as perhaps the biggest joke of the century
that will see every Ghanaian laughing.”
Heated
Debate
Spokeswoman for former President Mahama sparked
heated political debate on Monday after she stated that her boss, unlike
President Nana Akufo-Addo, is incorruptible.
The NPP believes the allegation was made by an
unexamined mind.
It follows a petition sent to the Special Prosecutor’s
Office by a group of people who are calling for criminal investigations of Mr.
Mahama for alleged diversion of $13 million into private pockets meant for the
development of Western Region from the E.O. Group.
The former president has failed to respond to the
allegations but has rather resorted to diversionary tactics.
Ms Bawa Mogtari, a former deputy Minister and cousin
of Mr. Mahama, who served under his National Democratic Congress (NDC)
administration, accused President Akufo-Addo and the NPP government of being
behind the petitioners.
NPP
Reaction
The NPP took exceptions to the statement and
expressed utter shock at the conduct of the former President.
“The NPP is utterly shocked at these claims being
made by the former President, who for all intents and purposes, ought to have
risen above such pettiness and recklessness, having had the rare opportunity to
occupy the highest political office in the country,” the NPP said in a
statement.
“Even though the party would ordinarily not respond
to such pettiness, we are nonetheless minded to do so because of the reverence
we accord the office of a former President.”
He said, “The party has absolutely no knowledge
about the said petition nor has it instructed anyone to file same on its
behalf. But, as a party that believes in good governance and holds unwavering
commitment to the fight against corruption, we would, on any day, encourage
citizens to, in exercise of their civic rights, report cases of wrongdoing and
alleged corruption to the appropriate statutory bodies for proper
investigations. This is what President Akufo-Addo and the NPP have always stood
for and we have no apologies.”
More
Questions
“Need we
remind them of how synonymous the name, John Mahama had become with corruption?
Need we remind them that John Mahama superintended over the worst corrupt
regime in the history of this country, where on a daily basis, Ghanaians were
greeted with one form of corruption scandal or another?” they asked
rhetorically.
The NPP again fired, “Need we remind them of the
GYEEDAs, the SADAs, the SUBAHs, the Amajaros, the Smarttys, the Brazil World
Cup scandals, the Woyomes, the Isofotons, the Watervilles, the Fortives, the
Kanazoes (where Mahama accepted a ‘bride’ of a Ford Expedition from a Burkinabe
contractor)? Need we remind John Mahama of the uncountable corruption scandals,
most of which he personally supervised during his tenure? Need we remind John
Mahama that one of the reasons for his unprecedented electoral humiliation at
the 2016 polls was because of his personal involvement in a lot of these
corruption scandals?”
Ridiculing
Mahama
Mr. Boadu said, “It is pretty obvious from the
foregoing that Joyce Bawa Mogtari only sought to ridicule former President
Mahama by suggesting in the statement that he is incorruptible.”
“How can somebody who eats and drinks corruption be
said to be incorruptible? Certainly, this cannot even be told to the marines.
We encourage the office of the former president to rather respond directly to
the serious allegations made against him in the said petition and not engage in
these red-herrings and unprovoked attacks.”
Akufo-Addo
Record
He stated categorically that “President Akufo-Addo,
on the other hand, has all his life, both in private and in public service,
never been accused or alleged to have been involved in any act of corruption.
“He is by far the only politician in our recent history
to have boldly said that ‘I, Nana Akufo-Addo, am not corrupt; I have never been
corrupt and I shall demand same of all my appointees'."
“And indeed, for all the corruption allegations
levelled against his appointees by surrogates of the NDC, President Akufo-Addo
had ensured that they were all thoroughly investigated, notwithstanding their
frivolity. That is a mark of an incorruptible leader, which we never saw in
John Mahama, who would rather offer promotion to such appointees by reassigning
them to the Office of the President to help advance their corrupt enterprises.
Ghana has certainly moved on and we cannot afford to go through the corrupt
Mahama experience anymore.”
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