The National Democratic Congress (NDC), has refuted claims by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), that President John Mahama was at a point, investigated for alleged corruption by late President John Evans Atta Mills.
At a press conference on Monday to respond to the NDC’s manifesto, the Policy Adviser to the NPP flagbearer, Boakye Agyarko, alleged that President Mahama was investigated by his former boss, the late President Evans Atta Mills, over alleged corrupt acts.
The NPP also contended that, President Mahama’s integrity had been compromised thus he lacked the moral authority to fight corruption.
But in response, the National Campaign Coordinator for the NDC’s 2016 campaign, Kofi Adams, retorted that the NPP was only fabricating such stories to tarnish the image of President Mahama.
According him, “One says there was an attempt to investigate, it was never investigated and this was a story told by Martin [Amidu]. Now they move it to the next level and say that he was never investigated. Investigated for what?”
In 2012, former Attorney General, Martin Amidu had said that late President Mills set up a Committee of Enquiry to investigate the acquisition of aircrafts for the Armed Forces negotiated by then vice-President John Mahama.
Regarding the acquisition, on February 19, 2009, in his State of the Nation address, President Mills told Parliament that his government was reviewing the decision to purchase two executive Presidential jets as Ghana simply could not afford it.
But President Mahama, then chairman of the Armed Forces Council, was said to have been meeting officials from Brazil and negotiating the acquisition of five jets, when the President appeared not to be aware of the transactions.
According to Mr. Amidu, the late President Mills subsequently set up a Committee, comprising William Aboah, Mr. George Amoah and Brig. Gen. Allotey (Rtd.), to investigate the processes leading to the acquisition of the five aircrafts, and the infamous $55 million Embraer 190 aircraft and hangar purchased for the Ghana Army.
But the former Attorney General also noted that, official investigations into the matter never took off.
Commenting on the events surrounding the transaction, Mr. Adams noted that “President Mills was the President of the Republic and reserved the right to accept or reject any contract if he was not satisfied with the conditions under which it was entered into.”
But “once that [the investigations] did not happen, it meant that everybody was satisfied with the contractual agreement that was done,” Mr. Adams asserted.
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