John Dramani Mahama has said the inundation of corruption in the country has made the menace no more shocking to the citizenry.
He says the rate at which corruption is gaining grounds under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is unprecedented, making Ghanaians’ reaction to the canker no more surprising.
In an engagement with teacher unions in Koforidua –the Eastern regional capital — Tuesday, January 30, 2024, as part of his ‘Building Ghana Tour’, the flag bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) said he couldn’t fathom why the Akufo-Addo government has adopted other mechanisms to dupe the state in his last year in office despite the numerous scandals that have engulfed his administration for the past seven years.
John Mahama was reacting to the Ghana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) contract with Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) and the Finance Ministry which has become a subject of controversy.
“You cannot freeze a country like this. One would have thought that the corruption cases were enough but it’s even made Ghanaians numb. Now Ghanaians are not surprised again. Corruption does not shock Ghanaians the way it used to shock us. Today when there is a scandal people are like, “yabrɛ” (to wit we are tired). Because indeed we are all tired and so even in the twilight when you’re about to exit office, you’re just coming out with schemes to steal Ghanaians’ money,” he alleged.
The former President assured that such things cannot happen under an NDC administration steered by him.
“But I say that this won’t happen. An NDC government under me will not recognize this SML agreement,” he emphasised.
John Mahama said the President’s rush to call for an audit into the contract by KPMG when Parliament is already probing the matter is an indication that he has something to hide.
“Parliament is investigating it, the President has hurriedly gone to get KPMG to audit it. Whatever audit they do, I say we won’t accept or respect any agreement with SML. And for the money that they’ve taken already, we will hold them to account for,” he noted.
GRA-SML contract: Akufo-Addo’s order for KPMG audit a slap in the face of Legislature – Dafeamekpor
The comments came barely hours after the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International (TI), released the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) where Ghana scored zero for the fourth consecutive year.
Corruption Perceptions Index: Ghana stagnates with a score of 43 for 4th consecutive year
