The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa , has lashed out at the Opposition New Patriotic party over what he says is their futile attempt to smear President John Mahama with corruption.
He said “Mahama is incorruptible and will never be”.
According to him, the President has proven beyond reasonable doubt that Ghanaians can trust him with the public purse, hence his soaring image.
Mr Okudzeto was speaking on TV3’s ‘This Day’ program.
His comments follow the minority New Patriotic Party’s botched request for a parliamentary probe into the receipt of a Ford Expedition gift by the President.
President Mahama is said to have taken a 2010 Ford Expedition vehicle valued at about $100,000 in 2012 from a Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, after which a number of government contracts were awarded to him (Kanazoe).
But the Member of Parliament who is also a deputy Minister said the Minority MPs insistence on getting Parliament to probe the issue is borne out of mischief.
“The Supreme Court has clearly stated that for matters like this which has to do with conflict of interest and abuse of office, the best body mandated to deal with matters like this is the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice. The Minority is very much aware of this and so one wonders why the Minority will make all of us waste our precious time and resources to reconvene over an issue as trivial as this. The NPP has lost it. The NPP must learn to take Ghanaians seriously and stop wasting everybody’s time,” he stated.
He continued: “This car gift issue as we have said time and again is much ado about nothing. It’s pure mischief. Every president around the world has accepted a gift before. Bill Clinton has received before, David Cameron has, If you come to Ghana, since Nkrumah’s days, presidents have received gifts. Who documents a bribe if indeed what the minority is saying is anything to go by. How can anybody conclude the President has taken a bribe? Since when did gifts to our President become a bribe? Weren’t we in this country when the Libyan president gave a luxurious plush Mercedes Benz to the then President Kufour sometime in 2007? Did we term that as a bribe? Please let’s move beyond these kind of politics and take Ghanaians seriously”.
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