Former President John Dramani Mahama has refuted a 2014 claim that described him as the 4th richest man in Ghana with an estimated net wealth of $900 million.
He told a Johannesburg-based radio station, Power FM Thursday in South Africa, that his actual wealth after handing-over as President is nothing near $2 million.
“Never. No nowhere near that. I am absolutely nowhere near that ($900m),” he said, laughing out what he described as a misinformation orchestrated to malign him.
A list purportedly released by a group called Forbes Ghana about the 20 richest Ghanaians had the former leader occupying the 4th position trailing three entrepreneurs.
Section of Ghanaians were incensed by the information triggering a litany of allegations. Some people claimed Mr Mahama was shortchanging the country to amass wealth to sustain his lifestyle.
However, some former government officials mounted strong defense of the former President, labelling the claim as ridiculous and disingenuous.
But opening up on the issue two months after his humiliating defeat in the December 7, 2016 presidential poll, former President Mahama said the publication was engineered by his political opponents to smear him.
“This was published by a partisan newspaper [and it] is done for political gain,” he said, adding the act forms part of the problem of leadership in Africa.
He said per Ghana’s constitution he had declared his assets while serving as President and the total worth of those assets is nowhere near “even $2 million not to talk about $900 million.”
The former President noted with disappointment that every African leader will face what he described as misinformation that is spread gleefully by the citizens.
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