<<Print>>A PRO-NDC Group, Mahama For 2016, has sounded a clarion caution to the President, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, to publicly dissociate himself from all activities involving his younger brother, Ibrahim Mahama and his company, Engineers & Planners, in order not to jeopardise his second term in office. The group has further reiterated the call on the President to re-assign the Ashanti Regional Commander of Police, DCOP Nathan Kofi Boakye, if the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC) have any ambition of increasing its voting percentage in the region.
The call is contained in a petition to the President by the group, which calls itself Mahama For 2016 and intercepted by The Chronicle. In a strongly worded statement signed by its Leader, Abdul Rashid Musah and others, the group warned that the President’s brother could be his nemesis in the 2016 general election if the President does not publicly state his position on alleged conflict of interest, in a case involving Engineers & Planners, a company owned by his brother.
The group is of the view that opponents of the ruling party, particularly the New Patriotic Party(NPP) is pushing a propaganda that is likely to implicate the Presidency as alleged complicit in various controversies involving Mr. Ibrahim Mahama and his company. The Mahama For 2016 noted in its petition, copy of which has also been sent to the National Chairman of the party, said the opposition party was gradually succeeding in its diabolic campaign at aligning the President to activities of his brother, a development which it lamented could adversely affect the party’s chances at clinching on to power come next year. It observed that considering the crucial nature of the 2016 elections, it is important that the President approaches the campaign with clean slate devoid of any skirmishes since in their view, anything short of that could spell doom for the ruling party.
The group also pointed out that its investigations have proved that many bigwigs and corporate bodies loyal to the NDC are not happy at the way Engineers & Planners is being offered juicy contracts to the neglect of others. It cited for example, the construction of a drainage system from Kumasi Airport Roundabout to Asokwa Bypass which, otherwise, could have been awarded to party contractors but has allegedly been offered to Engineers & Planners. It said that lots of people within the party, especially those who contributed financially to the party’s campaign are not happy at all with the development. “Upon our last survey at Asawase, we clearly saw that local contractors within our party aren’t happy because of the way things are going.
This is unhealthy and must stop, else it would spell a doom for the party in 2016,” it noted. NANA ADDO’S INCORRUPTIBILITY The Mahama For 2016 group further observed that one of the major trump cards of the flagbearer of the opposition NPP, Nana Addo Danwkah Akufo Addo, is his claim of incorruptibility, a personal quality which President Mahama would also require, apart from the sterling performance of his government.
But in the view of the group, the recent controversies surrounding the President’s brother and his company could come back to hit the ruling party and the President, if nothing was done to publicly dissuade the minds of Ghanaians and decouple the Presidency from it. “The NPP appear to be winning the propaganda war on this issue and if care is not taken and it sinks deep into the minds of Ghanaians, we may pay dearly for it,” the group noted in its petition. KOFI BOAKYE FACTOR On the issue of the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, the group made reference to a statement made by the Regional Chairman of the party, Mr. Yaw Obimpeh, sometime back that he and his executives must not be blamed if the NDC was not able to achieve the One Million votes target, with DCOP Kofi Boakye still at post. It contended that the intimidating and imposing nature of DCOP Kofi Boakye does not serve the interest of the ruling party. “As a party, we should look into the reason why our Regional Chairman told us he shouldn’t be blamed if the party fails to meet its one million votes. “Per our investigations, we believe that DCOP Kofi Boakye can be an obstacle to the actualisation of this target with his intimidating presence come 2016 elections and the earlier we reassign him the better it would be for us,” it noted in the petition.
It, therefore, urged the President to remain focused and not to be moved his detractors because his good works are there for all to see.