Akufo-Addo’s administration is corrupt – Alex Mould

Financial and energy expert, Alex Mould, has stated he cannot say for sure that President Akufo-Addo is corrupt, although his administration, has so far been characterized by a number of corruption-related cases.

“I don’t know whether he himself is corrupt,” he said on TV3 Hot issues last Saturday, but added, “his [Akufo-Addo’s] government is showing a lot of things that tend towards corruption”.

Citing the BOST-Movenpina contaminated fuel saga, the controversial Kelni GVG deal and the ‘cash for seat’ saga among other scandals, the former GNPC boss said the Akufo-Addo government did not show leadership in the handling of the cases.

“We have so many of these things and Ghanaians just want leadership; the right leadership to ensure that we can reset,” he told the host of the show, Nuong Faalong.

Mr Mould, whose name has come up as a possible running mate for John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stated the Akufo-Addo led New Patriotic Party government has not done much to fight corruption for the last three years.

“I think leadership is all about taking top decisions and making sure people are in line with what you want them to do. So if we don’t see people being penalised for things that they are doing, that means that this is what is expected of them to do and that is not good for us as a country,” he said.

Asked if that suggest Akufo-Addo is corrupt, he responded: “I can’t say he’s incorruptible or not”.

“I’ve not seen anything directly that ties him [Akufo-Addo] to corruption,” Mr Mould said, noting “what you see of the government from his leadership is that they’re not towing the line and I think the stronger decision should be taken”.

He added: “I don’t think that we have the right leadership because if we have the right leadership, action will be taken to ensure that all these corruption cases that come up are dealt with properly.

President Akufo-Addo, has come under criticisms for indirectly absolving his appointees of corruption allegations, causing some critics to label him as a ‘clearing agent” but he has rejected the tag, claiming it is unfounded.

He contended in September this year that his appointees whom allegations of corruption were made against were referred to the various investigation bodies and state anti-graft institutions, who cleared them of any wrongdoing.

“It is not my job to clear or convict any person accused of wrongdoing, or of engaging in acts of corruption,” he said at the Ghana Bar Association 2019 Conference in Takoradi on September 9.

The president said his “job is to act on allegations of corruption by referring the issue or issues to the proper investigative agencies for the relevant enquiry and necessary action. That is exactly what has been done since I assumed the mantle of leadership on 7th January 2017.

“If an appointee is cleared of any wrongdoing, the evidence adduced and recommendations made by these agencies, after the investigations are concluded, are what clear the accused persons, not myself. None of these agencies has ever indicated any pressure from the Executive over the investigations” he said.

The former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), also accused Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu of not meeting performance targets in key areas of his job.

Mr Mould said Mr Amewu, failed abysmally in rolling out tender bids for the country’s oil blocks.

“We had over 40 people interested in the blocs, we had 16 people or so who took the actual tender forms and only 3 people bid for two blocs when we had about 6 or so blocs out there,” he said.

“I don’t know how you rate that performance but in my book it is underperforming.”

He also said the process of putting in the cash waterfall had not been done and cited the lack of due diligence and perceived corruption in the concessionaire of ECG on the failure of the Energy Minister, the Vice President and other players.

Mr Mould said former President John Dramani Mahama put a lot of work into putting the economy on track for growth especially in the area of infrastructure, commodities and energy.

Mr Mould said the NDC has a good shot at returning to power based on the work former president Mahama put into stabilizing the economy particularly with the introduction of the ESLA Fund.

He said the failure of the NDC to communicate these achievements, contributed to their loss in 2016.

“2016 was one of the best years for the NDC, a lot of things had been done to make sure we could get the economy back on track by 2017 and fortunately for NPP, they inherited all of that.

“They inherited all the things that had been put in place and all they had to do was follow the handing over notes,” he said.

But he claims things have taken a different turn under the Akufo-Addo government with corruption endemic deep within it.

His claim comes contrary to claims by the President in 2017 that he inherited a bad economy from Mr Mahama, though stopping short of complaining.

He promised to fix it.

But Alex Mould believes with what is turning out, the NDC will be voted for in 2020.