Car gift: Mahama’ll regret – Akomea

President John Dramani Mahama, on hindsight, will regret accepting the gift of a Ford Expedition from a Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, who has been given a series of contracts by the government of Ghana, Nana Akomea, Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said.

Critics of the president have said Mr Mahama put himself in a conflict of interest situation by accepting the gift.

The government, through the Ministry of Communications, denied any wrongdoing in the matter, saying the gift did not influence the award of contracts to Mr Kanazoe.

However, the Minority in parliament have hinted at impeaching the president over the incident. According to the Minority spokesperson on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Joe Osei-Owusu, the gift was a bribe meant to influence the president to give out juicy deals to the said contractor.

Nana Akomea who in spite of varying political ideologies, had been a longstanding friend to Mr Mahama since their days in parliament and as panellists on radio and television discussions in the early 2000s, said knowing him, Mr Mahama will surely regret the situation.

Speaking on TV3 News Day programme on Saturday June 18, Nana Akomea said: “Knowing President Mahama, I believe, on hindsight, he himself will regret the conduct…”

Also commenting on the same programme, Mr Abraham Amaliba, a member of the legal team of the governing NDC, said there was no ill motive behind the largesse of the Burkinabe contractor since there was proper documentation.

According to him, nobody who intends to engage in bribery will ensure that there is proper documentation on the item in question, but to the extent that that was carried out, Mr Mahama could not have engaged in any wrongdoing. He described the bribery reports as “cock and bull”.

According to Mr Amaliba, presidents accept gifts all over the world and give them to the state, exactly as Mr Mahama did, therefore, there was no wrongdoing.