In the  episode 2 of Ghana Kae series I will focus my attention on corruption scandals that plagued John Mahama's administration. This serves as a refresher for Ghanaians who may have forgotten the events that transpired under his leadership. Additionally, it aims to educate the younger Voters particularly the Gen Zs', on the happenings during John Mahama's tenure to guild them in making an informed decision between John Mahama who has occupied the highest Office of the country before and Dr. Bawumia who is yet to occupy the office in the upcoming elections.

I will like to begin with the Bus Branding Scandal, during John Mahama's term, 116 Metro Mass Buses were tagged with images of past Presidents at a cost of 3.6 million Ghana Cedi. Investigations into this scandal uncovered that the company, Smarttys, overcharged the government by over 1.9 million Ghana Cedi, enriching the government officials involved. This incident sparked significant public outrage, leading to the resignation of the then Transport Minister, Hon. Dzifa Attivor.

 Ford Expedition Scandal, in June 2016, it was revealed that John Mahama had accepted a Ford Expedition vehicle valued at 60,000 dollars allegedly as a bribe from a Burkina Faso contractor, Dzibril Kanazoe. Kanazoe had secured a contract worth 100 million Ghana Cedis after Mahama received the vehicle.

The SADA Scandal, also popularly known as the Akomfem Scandal, was another major controversy during John Mahama's administration. In this scandal, over 15 million Ghana Cedis were spent on rearing Guinea Fowls, with a significant portion of the funds unaccounted for. When questioned, authorities claimed that the missing Guinea Fowls had flown to Burkina Faso and refused to return. Additionally, 32 million Ghana Cedis were allocated to plant 5 million trees in the Northern Region, but only 70,000 trees were actually planted.

The NSS Scandal in 2014 revealed a corruption scheme of 7.6 million involving the National Service Secretariat. Investigations unveiled that 22,000 ghost personnel received salaries across 100 districts. Thanks to Dr. Bawumia's digitization initiative, the National Service Secretariat integrated all service personnel data into the National Identification Database through the Ghana card, eliminating ghost workers which has so far saved the country a lot of monies. This highlights the inefficiency of the Mahama-led NDC government, which failed to implement a national identification system during their lengthy tenure.

The Brazil 2014 Fiasco 

saw John Mahama authorizing the transportation of $40 million in physical cash by chartered flight to Brazil to pay Black Stars players. Prior to this, the players had threatened to boycott the tournament due to unpaid appearance fees. The debacle brought the country's image into disrupt, after all these the national team got eliminated in the group stage of the tournament at the  World Cup. Moreover, over 2 million Ghana Cedis were were said to have been squandered on coconut consumption in Brazil by government officials, spearheaded by Elvis Afriyie Ankrah.

Other scandals under John Mahama's administration include GYEEDA, The Brochure Gaffe, the Dubai Cycle Interchange bloated Contracts, the Double Salary Scandal, the $88 million Mahama Embraer jet scandal (earning him the moniker Government Official 1), and the infamous Judgment Debt paid to Woyome, among others.

For those who may have forgotten these scandals, it is essential to revisit these events to make an informed decision when casting their votes on December 7th.

Thank you.

Powered by Froala Editor