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Dismiss allegations on Ford – Mahama responds to CHRAJ

In a letter dated July 18, 2016 and signed by the lawyer of President Tony Lithur, said he was innocent of the allegations levelled against him.

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President John Mahama has asked the Commission on Human Rights and Administration Justice (CHRAJ) to dismiss allegations of conflict of interest levelled against him.

The President was responding to the letter from CHRAJ asking him to tell his version of the story on the controversy surrounding a ‘car gift’ given to him.

Three separate petitions were presented to CHRAJ against the President over allegations of a Ford Expedition vehicle gifted to him by a Burkinabe contractor.

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and the Youth Wing of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), and the Minority in Parliament are responsible for the petitions.

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The letter also indicated that the President played no role in the awarding of the contract to Djibril Kanazoe’s company.

“It is important to point out that at the time the vehicle was delivered to the Presidency, my client was not aware that Mr  Kanazoe’s company had been awarded a contract to construct the perimeter wall around the Ghana Mission in Ouagadougou.”

“Regarding the award of the contract to construct the Dodo-Pepesu Nkwanta road, the facts are clear that my client could not have influenced its award because, being an EU contract, the EU-supervised the formal processes leading to the award.”

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Lithur added that “my client denies any involvement in the entire process and states that he only got to know of this contract after the false allegations of bribery and corruption were first made against him.”

He, therefore, asked CHRAJ to throw out the petitions submitted by all three parties. “In the circumstances, I submit that the complaints made by all three complainants are absolutely without any basis whatsoever, either in law or in fact, and, therefore, should be dismissed.”

In the letter Lithur narrates that the gift was given to the then Upper East Regional Minister Mark Woyongo, to be given to the President. The vehicle was subsequently sent to the Castle (then seat of government). Lithur added that the President was a nationwide tour at that time and was unaware of the gift.

“It was not until his campaign took him to the Upper East Region that the Honourable Minister, assuming that my client had already been notified of the delivery of the vehicle, enquired about it. My client then asked the minister to call Mr Kanazoe for him to thank him, which he did.”

“When my client returned to Accra after his campaign but before the December 2012 general election, the officer in charge of the presidential car fleet informed him that he had taken delivery of the vehicle and asked what he should do with it. My client instructed him to add it to the presidential fleet,” he added.

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He further narrated that it was only after the allegations first surfaced that President Mahama enquired about the vehicle. He was told it had been re-fitted with security equipment to be used for the provision of security for state convoys and VIPs generally and had since been used exclusively as such.

Lithur said his client did not solicit the gift from Kanazoe. He said, “my client states, therefore, that while it may have been Mr Kanazoe’s intention to donate the vehicle to him as a personal gift, neither he nor his office regarded or treated it as such.”

He said, “the allegation of bribery and corruption against my client can only be described as malicious”.

“In general response to the allegations of bribery and corruption made against my client by the petitioners, he denies any involvement in and/or influence whatsoever and howsoever over the award, and/or processes leading to the award, of the two contracts mentioned by the petitioners, their implementation and payment, therefore, and hopes the commission would peremptorily dismiss the claims,” counsel concluded.

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