The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has expressed concern about former President John Dramani Mahama’s entitlement posture.
The former President’s behaviour, according to the party, endangers the country’s peace, democracy, and security.
This follows Mr Mahama’s claim that President Akufo-Addo’s government 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, as “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…”.
However, in a press conference held in Accra on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, the NPP’s Director of Communications, Richard Ahiagbah, stated that “the conduct of former President Mahama threatens our democracy, peace, and security.” So, what does former President Mahama hope to achieve by spreading these baseless lies? Could it be so that he can pretend to support the repeal of Article 71? Evidence of former President Mahama’s rather unholy politics abounds.
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 document somewhere that former President Mahama was disavowed or that the government denied him his emolument or entitlement. These bizarre, if not outright false, claims by the former President point to a grand electoral strategy based on desperation and deception.
