Top 5 scandals Akuffo Addo and John Mahama have in common
Ghana’s development dangles in limbo, either it is the NPP or the NDC but very few have looked beyond this political binoculars to see that these two parties are just two sides of the same coin. They may not entirely be the same as perhaps, some headway has been made by one than the other as some analysts claim. Outstanding among them is the free SHS which was poo poo-ed by the NDC but fired into reality by the NPP. But on a larger scale, it is interesting to note that the living standard of the ordinary Ghanaian hardly takes a drastic positive change during party A’s reign or B.
This political debacle has led to Ghanaians directly comparing John Mahama to Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo.
factalive has gathered out top 5 similarities between these two leaders and why Ghanaians must believe they are more aligned than malaligned.
#5: Metro Mass Transit Scandals
The John Mahama’s government was caught pants down in one of the biggest corruption scandals in the transportation ministry. His government rebranded Metro Mass Transit buses for a whooping GHC 3,649,044.75 for the 116 buses. Not only was the rebranding unecessary and waste of the tax payers hard-earned money but the real cost was also bloated to squeeze millions of cedis into the pockets of party loyalists.
Colored picture of John Mahama painted beside black and white pictures of past presidents.
MMT CEO/Procurement Officer on tape seeking to breach procurement processes: Metro Mass Transit [MMT] scandal in which the Managing Director was caught on tape circumventing procurement processes in the acquisition of some 300 buses for the company.
#4: Ghana Football Association
Brazil 2014 fiasco: Following the failure of the government to pay their $100,000 dollars Brazil 2014 appearance fee on time, palyers of the Black Stars threatened to boycott Ghana’s last World Cup group game against Portugal. This complelled the government to send a reported four million dollars in cash on a chartered flight to Brasilia to be disbursed to the team. The development was the subject of international media coverage, creating huge embarrassment for the country. the Black Stars was eliminated for the first time in the group stage a the World Cup.
Kwesi Nyantakyi/Akufo Addo, $5m; Dr Bawumia, $3m etc deal : Ace Investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas caught Ghana Football Association President, Kwesi Nyantakyi negotiating a deal on behalf of President Akufo Addo, Vice President, Dr Bawumia and other top Government officials. Nyantakyi who is the President’s ally is seen in a video indicating he has Akufo Addo and his govt in his pocket and that to be able to win all manner of contracts in Ghana, $5 million was enough to buy the President.
#3: Fuel Price Hikes
Former President John Mahama‘s tenure in office withness an avalanche of fuel hikes. In once instance, an Energy Levy was introduced that resulted in an average 30 percent increase in prices. The Energy Levy was the latest tax to be imposed on petroleum products barely 14 months after a Special Petroleum Tax of 17.5 percent was introduced — principally to raise more funds to bridge a widening deficit. The new levies were captured under the Energy Sector Levies Bill, which was passed by Parliament to harmonise energy sector levies.
On Monday, 2nd September, 2019, petroleum was increased yet again. This followed a directive by the state regulator, the National Petroleum Authority to Oil Marketing Companies to commence the application of what the Government calls “revised Energy Sector Levies” which were earlier announced by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in his 2019 mid-year Budget Review.
#2: Mahama’s GYEEDA and SADA, Akuffo Addo’s AMERI deal
In 2013, Manasseh Azure Awumi, a reporter for Joy FM, conducted an investigation into the operations of THE Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) and uncovered massive corruption. The Mahama government set up a five-member committee to probe the allegatios further. The committee’s report largely affirmed Manasseh’s findings. Parrliament passed reforms to regulate the operations of GYEEDA which included a name change to Youth Employment Agency (YEA).
Scandalous $1.37 billion AMERI Novation and Amendment deal:The Akufo Addo government has been rocked by a scandal of an attempt to rip off Ghanaians by seeking to inflate the cost of the AMERI plants from $510 million to $1.37 billion.#1: Dumsor
Well, not exactly a scandal but if you consider the fact that both presidents promised to fix the energy crisis of the country yet with minimal or no attempt from both sides, the more it appears scandalous, to say the least.
John Mahama famously earned the name “Mr. Power cut” for the constant power outages in the country. John Mahama was forced to confess that his greatest challenge as President was the energy crisis. In an interview on TV3, the former President indicated that the energy crisis popularly known as ‘Dumsor’ which blighted the country for over three years was not an easy issue to deal with. It was his greatest shortcomings as a President.
“I will say that the most challenging issue for me as a president that I have to deal with is the power crisis.
“I saw myself engaging the power ministry a couple of times more than other ministries because it wasn’t easy to overcome that challenge” he stated.
This lead to the Power minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor resigning shortly after been sworn into office for failing to fix the crisis as promised upon his assumption of office.
It is May 10th and while typing this article, the lights have gone off more than three times in a very unpredicatable and erratic manner. This is Akuffo Addo’s dumsor or what the NPP fanatics call Mahama 2.0.
Among others, the erratic power supply is one of the major reasons that precipitated the recent #FixTheCountry demonstration in the country. The organizers of the #FixTheCountry demonstration which was scheduled on Sunday, May 9 later announced a format for a virtual protest.
In a presser, the organizers stated that they were earmarking “Sunday as a day to serve our Motherland,” directing like-minded Ghanaians to “remember to honour Mother Ghana by wearing black to tell her that you will not give up on her.”
They further directed their fans to upload pictures of themselves wearing black and sharing it on social media with the hashtags, #FixMotherGhana, #FixTheCountry, #FixTheCountryGhanaNow.”So next time you get into any brawl as to which of these leaders is the best for the country, pause to rethink your emotions. God bless our counry, Ghana.