I will be a better President in my second term – Mahama

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Former President John Dramani Mahama has asked Ghanaians to massively vote for him in the upcoming presidential elections, pledging to be better.

“Ghanaians should choose John Mahama because he’s a person you can trust. What you see is what you get,” the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stated in an interview with Accra-based Starr FM on Tuesday, November 3.

“I have the track record and I believe that having been president before, I’ll make a better president in my second term,” he added.

Regrets 

According to the former President, who was annihilated in the 2016 general elections by the then-candidate Akufo-Addo, he regretted not “speaking directly to the people during my time in office” and so that vacuum was filled with a lot of propaganda.

 “So, this time when I come I will go round and directly speak to the people on what we are doing and some of our policies.”

The Airbus scandal

Speaking on a myriad of topics, including the teething Airbus scandal, Mahama expressed “disappointment” for being named as ‘Government official 1’ in the scandal.

The Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, in his corruption risk assessment report into the controversial Agyapa Royalties deal on Monday named Mahama as the mysterious ‘Government official 1’.

 “This Office has established the identity of elected Government official 1 to be former President John Dramani Mahama whose brother of the full blood is Samuel Adam Foster also known as Samuel Adam Mahama,” the special prosecutor revealed.

He added: “…the only reason the former President [Mahama] has not been invited for interrogation (in spite of all threats from some of his followers and lawyers) is the fact that he got himself an insurance as the Presidential candidate of the other largest political party in Ghana.”

Reacting to the disclosure Mahama argued that the disclosure was a smear campaign to equalize for the messy Agyapa deal.

“I’m disappointed in Martin Amidu for putting that paragraph in his report to equalize things. No financial benefit accrued to me. Not a single dollar…We are talking about a deferred prosecution agreement in which nobody’s names were mentioned and yet there’s been an inference that it must be this person, it must be that person and so legally, he doesn’t even have any basis to proceed, on what basis, on what document is he proceeding?” he said.

 “What investigations has he done? Who has he spoken to? What investigation has he conducted? He should come out and tell us…” Mahama added.

Denial 

Mahama is on record to have denied any hand in the Airbus deal while serving as president of Ghana.

Back in June, he broke his silence on the issue, arguing that due diligence was followed in the purchase of the two aircraft for the Ghana Armed Forces.

“Let me state without any equivocation that no financial benefit accrued to me. Neither was there any form of inducement in the purchase of the aircraft. My singular motivation was to equip and retool the Ghana Armed Forces in a manner that would make the discharge of their national and international roles efficient and less burdensome and for all the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make, they do not deserve less,” the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress told the state-owned Daily Graphic.

Source: Daily Mail GH