[ 2016-12-05 ]

Mahama used Ford gift to ‘smuggle’ money for 2012 campaign – Amidu
Former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, has alleged
that the Ford Expedition car gifted President John
Mahama in 2012 by a Burkinabe contractor, was part
of a plot to smuggle money into the country to
fund the Mahama 2012 campaign for the presidency.

Mr. Amidu, who spoke in a video message, said his
claim is based on a letter from the Ghana Embassy
in Burkina Faso to the border authorities at Paga,
dated 29th October, 2012.

According to him, after President Mahama had
assumed office following former President John
Evans Atta Mill’s death, he was heading into the
elections of 2012 “unprepared financially.”

“However, the President’s friend and
beneficiary of contracts, when the President had
assumed office, was ready to provide financial
support,” the former AG narrated.

He indicated that the only way funds could be
unconstitutionally imported into Ghana from
Burkina Faso was to be “ingenious through the
Ford Expedition and a wrapper, wrapping the many
dollars needed for the Mahama Campaign. No
searches, no questions.”

Mr. Amidu added that the money would have been
“retrieved from the vehicle in Accra and the
Ford Expedition is useless thereafter to the
President.”

CHRAJ investigation a farce

Mr. Amidu also slammed the Commission on Human
rights and Administrative Justice’s (CHRAJ)
investigation into the Ford gift saga as a sham.

“CHRAJ has no jurisdiction but the President was
too happy to have his own institution purport to
clear him – a farce to make the public believe
the President has the people’s interests at
heart and that his institutions will protect the
public purse. But all this while, it covered an
unconstitutional scheme at election time,” Mr
Amidu stated.

Background

Earlier in 2016, President Mahama came under
intense public criticism for accepting the Ford
gift worth about US$100,000 allegedly to influence
him when he was vice President in 2012.

The Burkinabe contractor in question, Djibril
Kanazoe, admitted giving President Mahama the Ford
Expedition vehicle, for which the President called
to thank him.

The gift, according to reports, was prior to an
attempt by the contractor, to win a bid to execute
the Dodo Pepeso-Nkwanta road construction
project.

The same contractor had also been contracted to
build a wall, at a cost of over half a million
dollars, for the Ghana Embassy in Ouagadougou.

CHRAJ, following its investigation of the matter,
stated that President Mahama breached the gift
policy when he accepted the gift.

The Commission, however, stated that the
President’s action did not constitute a conflict
of interest, bribery or fraud, as the petitioners
to it, the youth wing of the Convention People’s
Party (CPP), and the Progressive People’s Party
(PPP), had claimed.

Source - Citifmonline

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