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Nana Addo knows Ofori Atta and Gabby Otchere-Darko are stealing for him – Mahama

The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Mahama has said President <a href="https://www.pulse.com.gh/news/local/conflict-of-interest-dollar225bn-kenbond-case-supreme-court-dismisses-suit/4kkhz56">Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo</a> is very much aware that his family relatives in government are stealing from the state.
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Ken-Ofori-Atta
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Ken-Ofori-Atta

According to him, the President is rather the protector and defender of his corrupt appointees largely comprising his family members and friends.

He accused the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta of enriching himself through the $2.25bn bonds.

Ken Ofori Atta, was sued over his role in the $2.25 billion bond issuance due to an alleged procedural error.

A pressure group called Dynamic Youth Movement of Ghana (DYMOG) in its suit is invoking the proper jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to interpret Article 284 of the 1992 constitution which states: "A public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the performance of the functions of his office."

But Mahama raised concerns over the role of a bank owned by the Finance Minister, Databank, in the bonds acquired by the state since 2017.

He said "This is a clear conflict of interest, the President knows about this and that is why he says I’m too old to be corrupt, I’m not going to steal your money; because he knew his relatives will steal the money for him and that is exactly what is happening. He can go to a plush retirement because Ofori Atta and Gabby and everybody else will look after him."

READ MORE: Finance Minister requests for more time to respond to CHRAJ query on $2.2 bn bond

In an interview on Pan-African TV with the Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Mahama said "They were waxing lyrical about how strong the economy is, and just six months of a pandemic the economy collapses... We are facing the worst economic hardship for the first time in our Fourth Republic history. The finance minister, who is the cousin of the president has been cooking the figures, and this not the first time I am saying this. Today we owe the independent power producers almost $1.5bn and he treats those line items as footnotes including the banking sector debt.

"Ken Ofori-Atta has been engaging In subterfuge and sometimes very criminal subterfuge. For example, in 2019 the government didn’t meet the revenue target. You know what Ofori-Atta did? He made GRA went and borrowed money from Commercial Banks and presented it and said they have met their revenue targets. So when Covid struck, the commercial banks have been deducting the loan from the government revenue collected, that’s why the economy is so worst now because any revenue that comes from the commercial banks take their monies back. And so, some of these things are very criminal, and I am surprised that Prof. Adei as Chairman of GRA could connive to do something like this. The president knows about it, he has done nothing about it."

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