The former national security advisor Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah has called on the government to speed up investigations into a corruption scandal involving the purchase of three aircraft for the Ghana Air Force between 2009 and 2015.
According to him, the matter should have been brought to a close five months down the line when it became topical and was referred to the Special Prosecutor for investigation.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show (ABS) on Asaase Radio on Wednesday, Brigadier General Nunoo-Mensah said the government should be much more active in its efforts to gather evidence to pursue the case, which involves the former president John Dramani Mahama and others.
He is unhappy that the government is not liaising with relevant international agencies and officials overseas to secure information which will assist investigations of the case.
“Last month, I saw a report in the Daily Graphic where former president Mahama was talking to a reporter on this matter. Now, five months on, I have done intelligence. I have been with the CIA, the KGB, I have been with MI6, so I am not a novice in these areas.
“If a report was issued in Britain and Washington, it is easy to get the report through the official channels and verify. But to say that it is referred to the Special Prosecutor for five months and nothing is being heard, is it that this report is false, or what is going on?” he said.
Kasoa Interchange
Nunoo-Mensah also described the Kasoa Interchange, which was built under the John Mahama government, as useless.
He narrated how he once spent six hours stuck in traffic on his way to an event in Moree in the Central Region because of the chaos that the interchange has caused since its completion.
The brigadier general declared that the project is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.
“It took me six hours from Accra to Winneba: I would have been in London. The same Mahama you’re talking about, they built the overhead in the Kasoa. It is completely useless. The problem now is bigger than before the overhead.
“Let’s not spend money for spending’s sake. Let’s use money wisely. This is where the military will come in and let you reason, justify why this had to be done. You just don’t spend money and say, ‘I have built bridges and so I have done so much,’ ” he said.
Airbus scandal
The former president and 2020 presidential candidate for the opposition National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, has been fingered in the military aircraft scandal.
Three C-295 airplanes were procured from the European aeronautics giant Airbus at the time he was serving as vice-president under President John Evans Atta-Mills.
Relatives of Mahama’s are implicated in an investigation into the corruption scandal, which has shaken Airbus. The company has agreed to pay a fine worth £3 billion after a joint French, UK and US investigation found that Airbus had used inducements to secure trade contracts in Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.
Kennedy Mornah
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