President Mahama did no wrong : Mahama Ayariga

Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga says he is surprised at attempts to fault then Vice President John Dramani Mahama’s participation in a meeting to hear a petition involving his own brother.

It has emerged that President Mahama was part of a meeting that attempted to resolve a loan issue between Merchant Bank and Engineers and Planners, a business interest owned by his own brother, Ibrahim.
 
Media accounts have since sought to question the moral propriety of the President getting involved in a potential conflict of interest case. But Ayariga who spoke to Radio XYZ’s Moro Awudu, said John Mahama cannot be faulted for accepting the invitation to join the deliberation.

“Remember that he was not the person in charge of the deliberations, the president at that time (late President J.E.A. Mills) was in charge of the deliberations but thought that it was fit, and fair and proper for the vice president to also sit in the meetings while he was hearing both sides and thinking through with them how the issues could be resolved.”

Asked if then Vice President Mahama could not have declined the invitation or forgo his right to sit in the deliberations in order to forestall any issues of conflict of interest especially as his own brother was involved, Ayariga insisted he does not see what wrong John Mahama committed, saying the question only arises if the structure of what was happening was overlooked.
 
“What was happening was that there was a president, a president who has ultimate responsibility and authority in the matter. It was that president who was being petitioned. And so it wasn’t the vice president who was going to take any decision at that meeting, it was the president who was going to take a decision. Granted that the vice president’s presence matters but let’s not also underrate the sense of fairness and judgement by the then president. So the physical presence of the vice president in that meeting would not change much. The truth of the matter is that in any case, nothing in the records…. give any indication that either the then president or vice president gave any inappropriate directive to Merchant Bank.” Listen to Mahama Ayariga