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The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is demanding that the President speaks on the $ 100,000 Ford Expedition car gift, allegedly given to him by a Burkinabe contractor to influence him. The NPP said the President’s long silence on the matter is worrying.

Although the Ministry of Communications, few days after the news broke, issued a statement admitting that government indeed received the gift from the contractor, President Mahama is yet to officially respond to allegations leveled against him. Addressing a news conference in Accra, acting National Chairman of the party, Freddie Blay, said the President’s conduct violates the country’s constitution. “We are now being told that when it comes to matters of corruption and integrity, there must be one law for President Mahama and his Ministers and staffers on one hand, and another law for everybody else in the country.

The President who is directly involved in this bribery allegation, has refused to speak or has not yet spoken on the matter, choosing instead to let his spokesperson speak. Our message is simple, and the message is Mr. President please speak in your defence.”

Parliament must probe Burkinabe contractor
The party is also requesting for a parliamentary probe into all contracts awarded the contractor . The NPP’s demands come days after the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) indicated that it will drag President Mahama before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) over the matter.

A day after the PPP’s threat, CHRAJ indicated that it had initiated steps that could lead to an investigation of President John Mahama, following the receipt of two petitions. The two petitions were forwarded to the Commission by the youth league of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and another complainant, a private individual. The petitions, according to the Commission, made claims of conflict of interest against the President.

Background

President John Dramani Mahama has come under intense public bashing for accepting a car gift worth over $100,000 from a Burkinabe contractor, allegedly to influence him. The Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, has admitted giving President Mahama a 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.

That contractor had also been contracted to build a wall, at a cost of over half a million dollars, for the Ghana Embassy in Ouagadougou. Though government had confirmed the acceptance of the gift, they claimed the president had not used it, and that it was added to the pool of state vehicles. It thus downplayed the allegations of corruption and conflict of interest.