Gabby Otchere-Darko, a New Patriotic Party stalwart, has dared the National Democratic Congress and its flagbearer, John Mahama, to name one clear case against Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his family members or appointees that comes anywhere close to the Airbus scandal.
Reacting to the recent press conference on the Airbus scandal by Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor, Otchere-Darko further dared the opposition NDC to put the Airbus case side by side with any of the charges it continues to lay on the NPP’s doorstep.
Airbus has admitted to paying bribes which allegedly went to Ghanaian government officials.
Otchere-Darko said emails and other facts in the public domain point to the unusual involvement of the “Government Official 1” as the main champion of the deal in the entire transaction from the onset (even promising more) and how his brother was later on brought on board as an agent for the company that admits to paying bribes.
Shameless
“Today his party and its leadership are understandably mightily relieved and happy because investigators in Ghana say they found no evidence against the leader and his brother the agent. One can only be happy for them! They now point to how an ‘innocent’ interest in a transaction can be so mischievously misconstrued even by reputable investigators as dodgy,” Otchere-Darko posted on X on Friday (9 August).
“Yet, so desperate are they that they (led by JM himself) are eager to rely confidently & unashamedly on a book of fiction as their main dossier of evidence & to use same to draw links and conclusions from other instances to show that what Ghanaians are enduring today is worse than what they did see under Mahama’s NDC; never mind the tons of evidence of real developments and spendings that have gone directly into the welfare and wellbeing of families and communities across the country.”
Otchere-Darko said the NDC and Mahama have desperately relied on a book of fiction, “Agyapadeɛ”, as their main dossier of evidence to claim that the economic downturn Ghanaians are facing is worse than what was witnessed under Mahama’s administration.
“… Thank God for Akufo-Addo’s meticulous OSP. Anaa? And, yet, that same party, the NDC, and that same leader, John Mahama, have made allegations of corruption against the current president, his family, friends and appointees their main campaign message; even to the point of using a patently fake document (not reports of reputable investigators) against the current president and his royal family to drive home the point.
“But, this is what is interesting though! Let us dare the opposition and their ‘squeaky clean’ leader to name one clear case (not mere allegation) against Akufo-Addo, his family members or appointees that come anywhere remotely close to this Airbus case and its volumes of findings by investigators and admissions of guilt by the bribe giver. Let them put the Airbus case side by side to any of the charges they continue to lay on NPP’s doorstep.”
The hypocrisy of partisan politics is indeed most interesting. Just a few days ago a senior opposition party official in Ghana held a press conference to condemn a relative of the vice-president, who is a businessman, for his company allegedly benefiting from a public contract …
— Gabby Otchere-Darko (@GabbyDarko) August 9, 2024
The Airbus deal
Ghana bought three military airplanes – C295s – from Airbus. The nation received its first C295 in November 2011. The second aircraft was received in April 2012 and the third in November 2015.
The deals covering them were argued at the time to be in line with the 2009-2012 Strategic Plan of the Ghana Armed Forces.
All three purchases, approved by Ghana’s Parliament after heated disagreements on the floor, were marketed by the government of the day as a drive to modernise Ghana’s Air Force.
Funding for the first two C295s came from a €60,034,636 loan facility from Deutsche Bank SAE.
A further €11.75 million loan from Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd was also approved by Parliament during the period for the acquisition of two DA42 MPP Guardian surveillance aircraft for the Ghana Air Force.
The House also approved a total loan sum of US$105,370,177.09 from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) for the purchase of an Embraer E190 jet for Ghana.
The Embraer agreement was to cover related spare parts, appropriate accessories as well as the construction of a hangar big enough to house three large aircraft.
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