Due to charges of bribery, the Special Prosecutor’s Office is looking into former President John Dramani Mahama.
According to alleged report, Mr. Mahama gave over GHC 14,203,680 to 355,092 NDC delegates during the party’s most recent primary elections.
Due to Mr. Mahama’s competition for the flagbearership post, the Special Prosecutor has determined that the money, which was provided under the pretense of transportation, was offered as an enticement and is now being treated as a bribe.
OSP Probes Mahama Over GHC14m Delegates ‘Bribe’
The Special Prosecutor’s Office believes that the money was offered to sway votes in Mr. Mahama’s favor. He was up against two other candidates for the party’s flagbearership, but Dr. Kwabena Duffuor eventually resigned, leaving Kojo Bonsu and Mahama to compete.
In a statement, Mr. Mahama’s campaign team acknowledged that they had supplied transportation for some delegates but insisted that this support was not intended to replace what the party is already doing in all constituencies but rather to supplement it.
They further noted that Mr. Mahama’s ongoing support for the party over the years was consistent with the donation.
In a statement, the campaign staff for Mr. Mahama expressed their appreciation for their help with the delegates’ transportation to enable them to attend the primaries.
The statement went on to say that the funds were intended to supplement rather than replace what the party was already providing to all constituencies. Since the supply of transportation is the duty of the party and not an individual, the authorities are looking into the former president’s alleged bribery.
The gifts were justified by Professor Joshua Alabi, a member of Mr. Mahama’s campaign team, who claimed that they were consistent with the former president’s ongoing support for the party over the years.
A total of 355,092 delegates from 277 constituencies participated in the opposition National Democratic Congress 2023 Primaries on May 13, 2023, electing both presidential and parliamentary candidates for the general elections of 2024.
Three candidates, including Mr. Mahama and the former mayor of Kumasi, Kojo Bonsu, were on the ballot for the presidential election after Dr. Kwabena Duffuor withdrew due to irregularities. In order to run in the legislative elections, hundreds did.
At the conclusion of the NDC primaries on Saturday, the Electoral Commission (EC) certified results indicating Mr. Mahama had received 297,603 votes, or 98.9% of all legitimate ballots cast.
His opponent, the former mayor of Kumasi, Kojo Bonsu, received a pitiful 3,181 votes, or 1.1 percent.
Former Mills administration Finance Minister Kwabena Duffour, the other candidate in the NDC flagbearer election, withdrew on Friday.
John Dramani Mahama will lead the NDC into an election for the fourth time this year.
When President John Evans Atta-Mills passed away in office in July 2012, Vice President John Dramani Mahama succeeded him and went on to win the election later that year.
Mahama initially lost the 2016 presidential election as an incumbent to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), making him the first president to hold office for only one complete term.
Mahama was elected as the NDC’s flagbearer in February 2019 with a whopping 95% of the vote, and he would have represented the party in the 2020 election. However, he came in second to incumbent President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who won with 51.59% of the vote to the NDC candidate’s 47.37%.
At the Supreme Court, Mr. Mahama contested the results, claiming that Akufo-Addo had received inflated votes in some polling places, pushing him over the required 50% mark to avoid a run-off.
The ongoing NDC primaries ahead of the 2024 general elections will come under more scrutiny as a result of the investigation into Mr. Mahama’s suspected bribery.