{"id":223172,"date":"2016-06-17T13:09:52","date_gmt":"2016-06-17T13:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=223172"},"modified":"2016-06-17T13:09:52","modified_gmt":"2016-06-17T13:09:52","slug":"step-down-or-face-us-in-court-ppp-to-mahama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/06\/step-down-or-face-us-in-court-ppp-to-mahama\/","title":{"rendered":"Step down or face us in court – PPP to Mahama"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom’s Progressive People’s Party (PPP), has called on President John Dramani Mahama to step down as Head of State, following the revelation that he accepted a car gift worth over $100,000 from a Burkinabe contractor, allegedly to influence him.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, has admitted giving\u00a0President Mahama a Ford Expedition vehicle, for which the President called to thank him.<\/p>\n
The gift according to reports, was prior to an attempt by the contractor, to win a bid to execute the Dodo Pepeso-Nkwanta road construction project.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”fn6owdsXdo1VaiXmMpN5NFwOhMtKGNAm”]The PPP argues that President Mahama’s acceptance\u00a0of the gift from Djibril Kanazoe, prior to the award of a contract to him, is in violation of the constitution.<\/p>\n
Corruption allegations a\u00a0‘blot on his presidency’<\/strong><\/p>\n Speaking to Citi News<\/strong>\u00a0after a press briefing in Accra today [Friday], the party chairman, Nii Allotey Brew Hammond, insisted that the President had stained himself and the presidency with corruption.<\/p>\n \u201cI will ask him [President Mahama] to step aside because it is not rubbing off very well on his presidency. This will be blot on his presidency having accepted a gift of this magnitude from a contractor seeking business from his government.”<\/p>\n Mr. Hammond bemoaned the effect of corruption on development and stated that Ghanaians should be concerned because \u201coffice holders ought to know that they can\u2019t accept certain gifts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us ought to be concerned. Do you how many other gifts that have gone under that we haven\u2019t seen. You don\u2019t know, there may be others,” he added.<\/p>\n Possible legal action<\/strong><\/p>\n The PPP also hinted of a possible legal action to compel the President to step down if he does not heed their request.<\/p>\n According to Mr. Hammond, \u201cWe are talking to all manner of people and if it gets to the point where we believe that nothing is happening and that the government is just ignoring these practices, we may seek a court order…\u00a0I am not saying we are considering a court case today, but it is not off the table. It is something to be considered.\u201d<\/p>\n Minority to consider impeachment? <\/strong><\/p>\n Government has already rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by President Mahama, but a member of the\u00a0Minority in Parliament, has hinted of an impeachment process<\/a><\/strong><\/span> against the President for wrongful conduct.<\/p>\n According to the Minority Spokesperson on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Joe Osei-Owusu, the gift of a Ford Expedition was a bribe to influence the President to give out deals to the said contractor, citing a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n Government has since admitted the President accepted the gift, but says the car was added to the government’s pool of vehicles, and that it cannot constitute bribery.<\/p>\n