A gift is something acquired without compensation. Bribe is a payment made to a person in position of trust to corrupt his judgement. (According to Wordweb Dictionary).
The definition of both a gift and a bribe as explicitly explained above, makes it overly incomprehensible, unbelievable and a sharp defilement of logic when one premeditatedly decides to interchange the definition of those two words for the other.
In fact, if that happens, then it can be said that there is a mischievous attempt to either undermine the intelligence of the people or for a selfish benefit to a particular person involved in such instance.
In November 2012, a brand new Ford Expedition SUV priced $100,000, was given to the President of Ghana, by a Burkinabe contractor with name Djibril Kanazoe, which the Burkinabe describes as a "gift". Interestingly, investigations have been able to unravel the major reason for President John Mahama receiving the brand new Ford Expedition from the foreign contractor.
Undisputable investigation has proven that, the brand new Ford Expedition SUV, priced $100,000, was a kickback share presented to President Mahama by the Burkinabe contractor because of a contract awarded him by the Ghanaian government in 2012, at an amount of $650,000, to build the Ghana Embassy Fence Wall in Ouagadougou, which the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament termed the amount as "outrageous cost of the project".
The unarguable import in this undeniable contract saga, is that, President John Mahama is clearly robbing Ghana to pay himself in the form of kickbacks.
In the investigation process , Mr Djibril Kanazoe confirmed to the media in Ghana that he is a longtime close ally of President Mahama, and the President of the Republic of Ghana even sent delegation headed by Mr Mark Owen Woyongo , a minister of state in the John Dramani Mahama administration to come and support him when he lost his father in Burkina Faso.
According to the information gathered so far, it means all contracts awarded to Mr Djibril Kanazoe are not of the reason of who is providing quality with a moderate price but on the merit of friendship and kickbacks (BRIBE) even when the pricing is overly astronomical, unreasonable and expensive ,which is a huge indictment on the Public Procurement Law of Ghana.
In 2012, Mr Kanazoe again won another contract to construct the 46.4 kilometres Dodo Pepeso - Nkwanta Road, a portion of the Eastern Corridor Road Project, one of the biggest Road Projects in the history of Ghana , worth 25.9 million Euros.
The road was completed and inaugurated in April 2016 by President Mahama, who praised the Burkinabe contractor highly.
" I also want to take the opportunity to thank Messrs Oumarou Kanazoe Contractors of Burkina Faso for the very high quality of work they have done on this stretch of road.
As I have said, perhaps, this is one of the best quality roads in Ghana today and I will urge the Minister of Road and Highways to bring other contractors to come and see so that they can emulate it in other parts of the country".
President Mahama said this on April 19, 2016, when he commissioned it.
Amazingly, the President of Ghana has turned a PR Conduit for the Burkinabe construction firm at the expense of the Ghanaian contractors who cannot afford to reward President Mahama a Ford Expedition SUV worth $100,000.
It's a an unimaginable shame for the President Mahama to disrespect the laws of Ghana, that is the Public Procurement Law, by not following and respecting the constitutionally mandated clauses in awarding a contract to a foreigner but deliberately handpicked a Burkinabe contractor, without due recourse to what the law demands, because of illegal selfish interest and kickbacks (bribe).
It is interesting to know that if a contract of $650,000 merited President Mahama a bribe of Ford Expedition SUV, worth $100,000 then what will he gain from a contract of €25.9 million to the same Burkinabe contractor. As if that was not enough. this same contractor has been earmarked for another contract through the sole sourcing window in clear violation of the procurement law.
We as a movement, believes that President Mahama has grossly disrespected the constitution of Ghana, the same constitution which also determined his election as President of Ghana, thereby the good people of Ghana too.
So as the constitution of Ghana demands, when the President willfully brings the constitution to disrepute, the punishment is clear, so we call on the Chief Justice and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to make sure the constitution is well interpreted without fear or favour,since this internationally attracted bribery scandal directly falls within their space of operations, because the brand new Ford Expedition SUV, worth $100,000 was not a personal gift but a kickback (BRIBE) to President John Dramani Mahama.
Signed
Emmanuel Amankwah
Lecturer - KNUST
Chairman/Convener, Mass Action Against Corruption
Chris Arthur
Secretary, Mass Action Against Corruption
0541173031
Citizen Harry Aboagye
Public Relations Officer, Mass Action Against Corruption
0247510827 /0501086897
| Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
