Advertisement

What is Mr Batidam’s advice to the President?
President John Mahama

What is Mr Batidam’s advice to the President?

Undoubtedly the furore over the controversial ‘gift’ to President John Mahama from a Burkinabe contractor executing Government of Ghana projects represents a conflict of interest minefield. 

A suggestion has come from some quarters that President Mahama owes the people of Ghana an apology for accepting the gift of a car from the contractor, Djibril Kanazoe of Burkina Faso,  because it is precisely such a gift in such circumstances that the country’s regulations for all public office-holders emphatically prohibit.   

The source of the saga is Manasseh Azure Awuni, an investigative reporter who broke the story on June 15 on Joy FM. 

According to Awuni’s evidently well-researched report, in 2012 Mr Kanazoe gave President John Mahama “a brand new Ford Expedition (2010 model) …valued at over $100,000”. Mr Kanazoe has been awarded lucrative Ghana projects hence the intense controversy the story has generated. 

There is a hint that what ignited the award-winning Awuni to investigate the matter was an issue raised by the Public Accounts Commission (PAC) of Parliament in 2014.  In his online report headlined, ‘Full story: President Mahama’s ‘gift’ from Burkinabe contractor’, the Ghana Journalists Association’s Journalist of the Year 2011 explained:

 In September 2014, when officials of the Bank of Ghana appeared before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, it emerged that an amount of $656, 246.48 had been spent on the construction of a fence wall over a parcel of land belonging to the Ghana Embassy in Burkina Faso. PAC ordered BoG to investigate what it termed the ‘outrageous’ cost of the project.  

Following the JoyFM report, an official statement issued by Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, confirmed that the President did receive a vehicle gift in 2012, but explained that it had been placed in the presidential vehicle pool “as per established convention”. He described as “absolutely false and untenable” any inference of conflict of interest. 

It gave details about the Kanazoe contracts, stressing that he won them legitimately and the President had no hand in the transactions.

A further comment attributed to Dr Boamah on a JoyFM discussion programme last Saturday that President Mahama is “incorruptible”, has only added to the heat, with Mr Kofi Asamoah-Siaw of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and others even questioning the Minister’s understanding of “incorruptible”.

Many others have expressed less broad-minded views than demanding an apology. There have been impeachment and resignation calls from those who see the gift as a bribe. But those in the President’s corner say he has done no wrong. 

Dr Henry Lartey, presidential candidate of the Great Consolidated Popular Party is of that view. To him the criticisms are tactics to damage President Mahama’s image, the Daily Graphic of June 22 reported. 

Nevertheless, critics see the acceptance of the gift as a serious error of judgement on the part of President Mahama. On June 20, the Youth League of the Convention People’s Party petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the matter. In the petition, Youth League secretary, Hardi Yakubu, describes it as a “clear case of conflict of interest.” 

Prior to that, the PPP chairman, Nii Allotey Brew Hammond, referring to corruption, insisted at a press conference that the President should step aside for an investigation. The party also stated its intention to file a formal complaint with the CHRAJ.

For its part, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) said according to the official guidelines the President should return the gift. “Either he gives back the (car) or pays the market value of the luxury vehicle,” said Mrs Linda Ofori Kwafo, GII’s Executive Director.

It seems to me that an apology is the least the President can do to douse the flames of the furore, especially in view of even his own expectations of his ministers and public officials as spelt out in the Code of Ethics he himself launched in July 2013.  

Of the numerous fascinating aspects of the ‘gift’ saga, some of the most intriguing are:

Firstly, if, as the President’s defenders are saying there was nothing wrong in the President accepting the gift, what was the contractor’s motive in giving it?   

Secondly, the nagging question: just why did President Mahama accept the vehicle?

Thirdly, if the gift was reportedly given in 2012, and was assigned to the presidential pool, why is that it is only now, in 2016, that it has become public knowledge and only thanks to Awuni’s exposé? 

Fourth is the response given by Daniel Batidam, President Mahama’s adviser on governance and ethical issues, when Awuni asked him about a supposedly hypothetical similar case, with no mention of President Mahama. Mr Batidam reportedly told Awuni, among other definitive statements: 

“These are not situations that would occur in reality in terms of the kind of president we have … It’s obvious that any leader, any president … a responsible public servant would know that that situation could put him in a situation of not only conflict of interest but potentially being corrupted.”

Mr Batidam is a well-known anti-corruption campaigner and former head of the GII.  

Awuni points out that: “According to Mr Batidam, all the provisions on conflict of interest by CHRAJ, the President’s own Code of Conduct and the Conduct of Public Officers Bill 2013, are binding on the President.” 

The presidential code stipulates that gifts valued at over GHȼ200 (about 50 dollars) can’t be accepted by public officers. 

It would be interesting to know what advice Mr Batidam has given, or will give, to President Mahama, now that he’s aware that it was no imaginary case that Awuni cited. 

I also wonder whether the Council of State has a position on this matter.  

Hopefully, this saga will inform the Council about the urgent need for a policy on gifts to the President, or the state, to clear this minefield.  

Anyway, no matter how the dust settles, it is evident that without Awuni’s diligent investigation in Burkina Faso and in Ghana, the facts about the Kanazoe ‘gift’ would have remained hidden. 

To Manasseh Azure Awuni: I salute your talent, courage and spirit.  

 

[email protected]

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |