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A Senior lecturer at the department of History and Political Studies at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology has thrown a challenge to flag bearer of New Patriotic Party to speak to media reports that he received a Toyota land cruiser gift from a contractor as donation for his 2008 campaign.

According to the lecturer, Nana Akufo-Addo’s continuous silence on the issue is creating room for people to doubt his claims that he is not corrupt and will never be corrupt, adding that, the best approach to put this issue to rest is to explain to Ghanaians the circumstances under which he received the vehicle and later had it registered in his name.

“Sometimes politicians underestimate the effects of some of this negative reportage about them. If I was to advice Nana Addo, the first thing I will tell him to do is to respond to this car gift issue in order to bring a closure to it...he cannot deny that he received a car gift in 2008 from a contractor in support of his campaign… That is a documented fact, but now that the issue has come up for discussion after the President is also being alleged to have been bribed with Ford Expedition vehicle by a Burkinabe contractor, it is in Nana Addo’s own interest to tell Ghanaians the circumstances for accepting the car from the said contractor…was it a personal gift or a donation to the party-and if it is a donation to the party why was the car registered in his personal name?,” the erudite political science lecturer told The aL-hAJJ in an exclusive interview on condition of anonymity.

He said the media might have revisited the issue because “they think it was hypocritical on the part of the NPP to accuse the president of bribery when Nana Addo accepted similar gift when his government was in power and he was flag bearer.

In the case of the president, the communication minister has admitted the vehicle was gifted to the president but it has been added to the government pool so it cannot constitute bribe; that is exactly what I was expecting from Nana Addo. Tell Ghanaians that you received the said vehicle from a contractor and indicate reasons why you accepted it. But if you keep quiet, Ghanaians will think you are hiding something from them and they may have legitimate reasons to doubt you and reject you at the polls.”

According to the KNUST lecturer, what is even more damaging to Nana Akufo-Addo’s claim on incorruptibility are suggestions that he recently accepted a Toyota land cruiser Prado and other items from a current Chief Executive of a state owned organization on behalf of his wife, Rebecca Akufo-Addo.

“Even if these stories are not true, there is the need to refute them and set the record straight. If you ignore it, the rumor will persist and at the end people will begin to believe it. What I mean is that if the stories are not true, tell us it is not true and if they are true, be candid enough to tell,” he stated.

Following the NPP’s claims that a Ford Expedition vehicle donated to president Mahama by a Burkinabe contractor constituted bribery, media reports emerged that Nana Akufo-Addo was also a beneficiary of a used Toyota Land cruiser gift with registration number GE 1466 Z in 2008 from a contractor of Northern extraction. He received the vehicle in his capacity as NPP 2008 flag bearer and subsequently registered it in his personal name.

Media reports also indicated that while some NPP MPs have threatened to trigger impeachment proceedings against the president in parliament for accepting the donation, Nana Akufo-Addo has been reluctant in accusing President Mahama of bribery to avoid being exposed as a recent receiver of a Land Cruiser Prado vehicle which was to be given to his wife, Rebecca Akufo-Addo and other goodies from a well-known Chief Executive of a state organization.

The Toyota land cruiser that was donated to Nana Akufo-Addo in 2008 was later confiscated to the state in 2009 by the Customs Exercises and Preventive Service (CEPS) following investigations which revealed custom duties paid in respect of the vehicle was undervalued by 68.27%.

Though CEPS investigations later cleared Nana Akufo-Addo, who received the vehicle as a gift from the said northern contractor of any wrong doing, a GH¢13,007.31 import duty due on the vehicle was restored instead of the paltry GH¢ 4,127.30 paid by importers of the car.

Aside the shipping agent been ordered to pay the differentials in the duty, CEPS further slapped a penalty of GH¢17,760.02 on the vehicle.

The donor, who resides in Accra, purchased the luxurious vehicle from Crystal City Motors Ltd at Dzorwulu in Accra in 2008 at a cost of GHC100, 000 (or $100,000) after which he had it registered in Nana Akufo-Addo’s name.

When Nana Akufo-Addo had the opportunity during his recent five-day tour of the Eastern region to deny reports that he received the said vehicle and also took some items on behalf of his better half, he instead, is accusing president Mahama of sharing Toyota land cruisers (Prado) to buy votes.

“This year, they are distributing (Toyota Land cruiser) Prados. They will starve you for 4 years and only show up to bring you goodies a few months to elections so you vote for them… After taking the goodies, and voting for them, the hunger returns and will be worse than what you experienced in the past,” Nana Akufo-Addo alleged.

This, the KNUST lecturer said “is not the best approach to dealing with the issue. Accusing the president of sharing goodies is not the best answer to allegations contained in the various media reports. So far, the allegations are still hanging because Nana Akufo-Addo has neither deny not confirm them.”