[ 2016-11-30 ]

Eight scandals that have rocked the Mahama administration
President John Dramani Mahama’s first term in
office has been buffeted by several scandals that
have cost Ghana huge sums of money in lost revenue
and, in some cases, embarrassed the country.

Here are eight of such scandals:

1. Bus branding scandal:

Last year, investigations into the branding of 116
Metro Mass Transit Buses involving GH¢3.6million
revealed that the company contracted, Smarttys,
over-billed the government to the tune of about
GH¢1.9million.

The development provoked public outcry, which
compelled the Minister of Transport, Dzifa
Attivor, to resign in December.

The government subsequently reached an agreement
with Smarttys for the company to return
GH¢1,548,608.04 to government chest.

2. Mahama ‘Ford Expedition’ gift scandal

A revelation in June 2016 that President John
Mahama received a Ford Expedition vehicle
estimated to cost $60,000 from a Burkinabe
contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, provoked widespread
public outrage.

The businessman was said to have won two contracts
worth over GH¢100 million after the president
took possession of the vehicle.

The development prompted several opposition
political parties and civil society organisations
to accuse President Mahama of receiving a bribe.
He, however, denied any wrongdoing.

3. GYEEDA Scandal

In 2013, Manasseh Azure Awuni, a reporter for Joy
FM, conducted an investigation in the operations
of GYEEDA and uncovered massive corruption, which
led to policy change in the running of the
agency.

The government set up a five-member committee to
probe the allegations further. The committee’s
report largely corroborated Manasseh’s findings
and made various recommendations to government. As
part of the reforms, parliament passed a law to
regulate the operations of GYEEDA, which was later
renamed Youth Employment Agency (YEA).

His investigation also led to the cancellation of
all GYEEDA contracts with service providers,
except the contract with Zoomlion Limited. This
saved the nation millions of cedis.

4. SADA Scandal

In 2014, Manasseh Azure Awuni‘s investigation
revealed that the Ghana’s Savannah Accelerated
Development Authority (SADA) had misappropriated
millions of dollars allocated to it.

The investigations showed that SADA paid
GH?32,498,000 to ACICL to plant five million trees
in the savannah zone, but could only account for
about 700,000 trees.

It also found that SADA spent GH¢15 million on
guinea fowls, but could only account for a few of
the birds.

The revelation prompted President John Mahama to
abrogate SADA’s contracts with Asongtaba Cottage
Limited, mangers of the multi-million-cedi guinea
fowl project.

5. NSS Scandal

In 2014, officials of the Bureau of National
Investigations (BNI) uncovered a GH¢7.9 million
deep-rooted rot at the National Service
Secretariat (NSS).

Investigations showed that the amount represented
the allowance paid to 22,612 non-existent service
people in more than 100 districts across the
country.

Twenty district directors of the NSS were picked
up for their alleged roles in the malfeasance.

6. Judicial corruption scandal

An investigation by journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas
in 2015 revealed that about 180 workers in
Ghana’s judiciary had been involved in several
bribery deals.

Thirty-four judges, comprising 22 lower court
judges and 12 High Court judges, along with some
court staff, were captured in a video footage
extorting bribes from litigants to warp the
justice system.

At least 21 circuit court judges and four high
court judges were dismissed following the
revelations.

7. Brazil 2014 fiasco

Following the failure of the government to pay
their $100,000 dollars Brazil 2014 appearance fee
on time, players of the Black Stars threatened to
boycott Ghana’s last World Cup group game
against Portugal.

This compelled 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
country.

To add salt to injury, the Black Stars were
eliminated for the first time in the group stage
at the World Cup.

The government subsequently set up a presidential
commission of inquiry to investigate the
embarrassing episode.

8. Brochure Gafe

A brochure which was distributed during Ghana's
59th Independence Day celebration at the Black
Star Square in March was found to contain several
errors.

The brochure, which was characterised by
incomprehensible grammatical expressions, poor
spellings and a host of other inaccuracies,
provoked public outrage.

Among the many mistakes in the brochure was the
representation of Kenyan President, Uhuru
Kenyatta, as the President of Ghana.

Some of the scandals have implications for the
November elections, but President Mahama has
attempted to portray them as evidence that his
fight against corruption is bearing fruit.

Source - Yen

... go Back