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New SP: Investigate ex-President Mahama !!!
Ghana’s brand new Special Prosecutor (SP), Mr Kissi Agyebeng, describes corruption as” a pandemic” and some Ghanaians readily agree with him.
In tackling ‘corruption pandemic’ in Ghana, however, the expectation of many Ghanaians is that, the new SP begins from the very top.
For me, the new SP must not ‘beat about the bush’ at all. He must quickly investigate ex-President Dramani Mahama over the “seeming darkness” surrounding the nameless Government Official 1, in the global scandalous Airbus saga.
It must be noted that the former SP, Mr Martin Amidu, threw an “appetising bait” at ex-President Mahama, over the Airbus saga but he apparently ‘refused’ to ‘ lick’ the ‘bait’ and allowed the hook, the line and the sinker to ‘float’ in despair.
In a statement issued on November 9, 2020, Mr Amidu challenged ex-President Mahama to “man-up, wise-up and be bold and brave enough” to voluntarily visit the Office of the Special Prosecutor with two lawyers of his choice to be cautioned and interrogated to demonstrate his valour and wisdom as not being the elected Government Official 1.
And also, as not being the first guarantor to Mr. Samuel Adam Mahama’s forged passport application.
Mr Amidu had earlier confirmed in a statement to President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, that the elected Government Official 1, was no other person than former President Mahama himself.
The words; stupid, stupidity, coward and cowardice were ringing bells in the statement used by Mr Mahama to address the SP, for confirming him as the elected Government Official 1 in the Airbus scandal.
The infamous Airbus files revealed that between 2009 and 2015, an Airbus subsidiary specialising in the defence sectors, hired the brother of a high-ranking Ghanaian elected official, as well as a friend of the said brother and a third person to serve as commercial partners in the sale of three military transport aircraft to Ghana.
Reports indicated that Airbus knew that the middlemen had no previous experience in international trade or the arms industry, but knew of the family ties between one of the middlemen and the member of the government and was keen to take advantage of them.
According to American and British records, Airbus dangled commissions or ‘bribes’ of nearly five (5) million Euros in front of the middlemen.
Philip Middlemiss, Leanne Davis and ex-President Mahama’s brother, Samuel Adam Mahama are suspected to have acted as intermediaries between Airbus and former President Mahama himself.
Critics of former President Mahama are still accusing him of having links to a corrupt network in the case of kickbacks in the contract for the sale of Airbus military equipment to the Republic of Ghana.
By the end of March 2020, Mr Amidu found the corruption suspicions against ex-President Mahama credible enough to open an investigation into the case. He, therefore, announced that he would summon four ‘suspects’.
Mr Amidu wanted to hear from Philip Middlemiss and his collaborators; Sarah Furneaux as well as Leanne Davis and Samuel Adam Mahama. All the four have British nationality.
Curiously, former President Mahama, however, made the fight against corruption, the “central pillar” of his political programme to return to power in the 2020 electioneering.
When the Airbus scandal broke in 2014, ex-President Mahama reportedly said: “Corruption amounts to mass murder, because it deprives government the resources to address basic needs of the people.”
The fact of the matter, however, is that European aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, is alleged to have bribed Ghanaian government officials during the purchase of three aircraft for the Ghana Armed Forces.
Even though some records attempt to hide the names of the suspected bribe-takers , the elements they contain clearly identify some of the players.
For instance, according to court records, the middlemen established a company in Ghana on the 7th December 2009 and that a company with the same name, was established in the United Kingdom in February, the following year.
In September 2011, an external audit commissioned by Airbus revealed that one of the middlemen was clearly very close to a very key member of the Government of Ghana.
Analysts say, the fragmented disclosures are enough for Ghana’s justice system to decide to open investigation into the scandal.
So, Mr new SP, over to you. Your predecessor initiated the move, so dust the files and quickly open investigation into the scandal.
After all, ex-President Mahama had already assured that he would appear before the OSP to assist in the investigation, if the SP has evidence to suggest that he (Mahama) is complicit in the shameful scandal.
Mr new SP, really, this is a test case for you.
Contact email/WhatsApp of author :
asmahfrankg@gmail.com (0505556179
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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