Dr. Gideon Boako has criticized John Dramani Mahama, the former President and current presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, following the Special Prosecutor’s designation of him as “Government Official 1” in relation to the Airbus scandal.
He asserts that the former President should be barred from holding any position of power, as his reputation has been irreparably damaged by the association with the ‘Government Official One’ label.
One person, when you became vice president, there was information that your president, Atta Mills, set up a committee to investigate you on corruption related matters on the Embraer Airplane. This same person was reported to have been bribed by a Burkinabe contractor with a Ford Expedition vehicle. Just one person was surrounded by all these issues when you had the opportunity to serve as president and vice president, but you couldn’t be more careful.
What even angered Ghanaians was when he was interviewed by the BBC and you were asked, ‘Mr President, are you corrupt’, and you replied,’ me, as a human being?’. Then it means you yourself; when you are alone, you know in your thoughts that you can’t separate yourself from corruption and bribery.
Dr. Gideon Boako, serving as the Spokesperson for Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, participated in a panel discussion on PeaceFM’s “Kokrokoo.”
His remarks pertained to the ongoing investigations into the Airbus corruption scandal by authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
Airbus was ultimately found guilty and subjected to a fine exceeding $3 billion. However, the identity of “Government Official 1,” a prominent figure mentioned in the legal documents, remained undisclosed until the recent report from the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), which identified John Mahama as the individual referred to by that pseudonym.
The OSP found no evidentiary basis that suggests that former President John Dramani Mahama or any other public official was induced to improperly favour or did improperly favour Airbus in respect of the purchase by the Government of Ghana of military transport aircraft from Airbus.
The Special Prosecutor has directed the closure of the OSP investigation into alleged bribery of high-ranking Ghanaian officials by Airbus SE, through intermediaries, in respect of the sale of military transport aircraft by Airbus SE to the Republic of Ghana between 2009 and 2015.
But reacting to the report in a panel discussion on Peace FM’s “Kokrokoo” show, Dr. Gideon Boako was convinced that Mahama being identified as “Government Official 1” tells he was directly involved in the bribery corruption.
He further noted that the seeming vindication of Mr. Mahama doesn’t suffice and found it difficult how he wants Ghanaians to vote him back into government.
There are so many people in this country who can lead Ghana, and not because we do not have competent individuals, so someone who was once given the chance to rule over us, mess up the country, and also etch his name in the minds of Ghanaians with evidence as corrupt, should not be given the chance once more when there are righteous candidates who have served for 8 years without a single allegation of being involved in corruption.
The moral conscience and the integrity issues are quite key to government officials and our leaders. If you want to be President or have been President before, when it comes to the management of the economy for Ghanaians to have confidence in you not to mismanaged the national purse, Mr. Mahama has failed that test because there has been court judgement which indicts him….As for this election, I think Mahama should step aside because he has failed the corruption test. He was given the opportunity, and he has proven that he is one of the presidents who can’t fight corruption. We have other competent people like Mahamudu Bawumia. For 7 years to 8 years, not a single case of corruption can be attributed to him.
