Deputy General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), lawyer Obiri Boahen says the 78 page report by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is incomplete without the voice of the Burkinabe contractor, Oumarou Djibril Kanazoe, who is the at centre of the controversy.
According to the lawyer, CHRAJ has done a shoddy job for failing to invite the contractor to interrogate him before drawing conclusion.
CHRAJ yesterday released a 78-page report on its investigation into a gift President Mahama received from a Burkinabe contractor, Oumarou Djibril Kanazoe, which became public following an investigation conducted by a journalist, Mr Manasseh Awuni Azure.
CHRAJ in their statement said, “Whilst the Respondent contravened the Gift Policy by accepting the Ford vehicle, his actions after the gift was made clearly cured any conflict of interest that could have been occasioned. In the circumstances, the Commission is satisfied that the Respondent’s conduct did not violate Article 284 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.”
But commenting on the findings, lawyer Obiri Boahen said, the report can only draw one conclusion which is, President Mahama is being protected. The outspoken politician said, Kanazoe is a ”material witness” in the matter and for him not to have been invited, makes the work of CHRAJ incomplete.
He said, it does matter the number of witnesses assembled to testify in a matter, rather it is the weight of their testimony that matters most.
He added that, for the fact that CHRAJ was able to establish that, President Mahama contravened the gift policy, he should do the honorable thing by resigning from office as President of the Republic of Ghana.
He however, expressed his disappointment in African leaders stating that, no African leader in the sub-region will ever resign over such findings. He said, a leader in Europe would have resigned from office if they were cited in such a controversy.
“Every reasonable individual would have resigned from office over this finding and so I’m challenging President Mahama to resign,” he said.
”I don’t hate African leaders, but you have a leader who has been cited to have contravened the gift policy and still in office. President Mahama has contravened the gift tax law.”
According to CHRAJ, it was satisfied that the gift in question formed part of gifts prohibited under the Gift Policy under the Code of Conduct and that although the evidence show that President Mahama subsequently surrendered the gift to the State, the action nonetheless contravened the gift policy.
CHRAJ, also established that the President was not culpable of conflict of interest, bribery or fraud in relation to the manner in which the vehicle was given to him.
But responding to his comments, lawyer David Annan who was also speaking on the same show said, lawyer Obiri Boahen was only citing his own complaints over the saga.
CHRAJ he posited, struck out the case and there was no need for him to make the comments.
On the issue of Kanazoe, he said the contractor could not have been compelled to testify because he is not a Ghanaian, and that, the content presented to CHRAJ by JoyFm’s Manasseh Azuri was enough for CHRAJ to prosecute their case.
