John Mahama
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has raised concerns about the posture of former President John Dramani Mahama regarding his entitlement.
According to the party, the conduct of the former President threatens the peace, democracy and security of the country.
This follows claim by Mr Mahama that the government of President Akufo-Addo has denied him his entitlement since leaving office in 2016.
According to him, he has only been paid GH¢230,000 as salary arrears and denied receiving GH¢14 million as ex gratia.
“The only payment that was made to me by government, Accountant General, was my salary arrears of GHC230,000 in 2013. I will show it to you first, and later if you want we can call a group of you journalists. Of course, I don’t want to publish my bank statement but I can put it before you and you can look through all the payments and see if there is a GHC14 million payment. I didn’t receive any such payment.”
“I receive only my monthly pension like [former] President Kufuor, and [late former] President Rawlings was receiving [it] before he died. That is all I get.
“I pay the electricity bill for my house and my office, I pay the water bill for my house and my office. I live in my own accommodation so the State does not pay me anything for accommodation, Mr. Mahama said this in response to allegations by Bono Regional Chairman of NPP, Kwame Baffoe, affectionately called Abronye DC.
Mahama described the claim on TV3, “absolute lies”, saying that he pays for things like water, electricity, rent, fuel, medical care, and plane tickets himself.
“That’s an absolute lie. He says in 2013 GHC14 million was paid into my ADB account. I have my 2013 bank statement I will let you look through it and see if there is any GHC14 million payment,” Mahama told TV3.
“They haven’t given me an office, I rent an office in East Cantonments, I pay the rent myself, I pay my own fuel, the State doesn’t give me fuel, I pay my own domestic staff, I pay my own medical bills, I pay my own air tickets when I travel…”.
But reacting to Mr. Mahama at a press conference held in Accra on Wednesday September 14, 2022, the Director of Communications of NPP, Richard Ahiagbah said “the conduct of former President Mahama threaten our democracy, peace and security. So, the question is, what does former President Mahama wants to achieve with these needless falsehoods? Could it be so that he can pretend to champion the clamour for the repeal of Article 71? Evidence of this rather unholy politics of former President Mahama abound.
He continued that the claim by Mr. Mahama is false, describing it as a grand electoral strategy driven by desperation and deception to gain sympathy from Ghanaians.
“Former President Mahama’s denial that he is actively accessing his emolument benefits simply exploits the sympathies of unsuspecting Ghanaians.
There is no record anywhere that former President Mahama has been renounced or that the government has denied former President Mahama his emolument or entitlement. These bizarre and downright false claims by the former President speak to a grand electoral strategy driven by desperation and deception.
By Vincent Kubi