{"id":258370,"date":"2016-10-15T06:05:31","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T06:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=258370"},"modified":"2016-10-15T06:05:31","modified_gmt":"2016-10-15T06:05:31","slug":"outboard-motor-distribution-not-abuse-of-incumbency-batidam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/10\/outboard-motor-distribution-not-abuse-of-incumbency-batidam\/","title":{"rendered":"Outboard motor distribution not abuse of incumbency &#8211; Batidam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Presidential Advisor on corruption, Daniel Batidam, has defended President John Mahama\u2019s decision to distribute outboard motors to fisher folks during his campaign tour of the Western Region in August.<\/p>\n<p>The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), had accused the President of <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/10\/14\/mahamas-sharing-of-outboard-motors-abuse-of-incumbency-gii\/\">abusing incumbency<\/a><\/strong><\/span> and indulging in electoral corruption, for distributing the outboard motors among other items.<\/p>\n<p>According to GII, this abuse of incumbency became apparent when the Spokesperson of the National Democratic Congress\u2019 (NDC) campaign, Joyce Bawa Bogtari, revealed to the media that the distribution of the outboard motors and other items formed part of the state\u2019s interventions.<\/p>\n<p>But speaking on <strong>Eyewitness News<\/strong>, Mr. Batidam, who claimed he was not privy to the President\u2019s move, strongly defended it, saying \u201cthe outboard motors that were distributed were actually included in government\u2019s budget for the year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not as though state items were suddenly being distributed but that the policy of government was approved.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_112233\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-112233\" style=\"width: 659px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-112233\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1.1922292-e1456040707495.jpg\" alt=\"Daniel Batidam\" width=\"659\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1.1922292-e1456040707495.jpg 659w, https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1.1922292-e1456040707495-300x223.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 659px) 100vw, 659px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-112233\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Batidam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mr. Batidam, who was once a campaigner for good governance and spoke strongly against corruption, said the\u00a0President cannot be accused of abusing incumbency if he is taking advantage of an intervention that inures to his benefit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it is just about saying that a President cannot undertake government policies or activities during a campaign period which are likely to inure to his benefit then I think we get the argument wrong because the same President would have to deal with any negative or disadvantageous situation that he has to encounter,\u201dhe argued,<\/p>\n<p><strong>Distribution of outboard motors worse than vote buying<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The GII had already publicly chided <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #666699; text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #666699; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/10\/14\/mahamas-sharing-of-outboard-motors-abuse-of-incumbency-gii\/#\">President<\/a> Mahama<\/span><\/strong><\/span> for\u00a0the distribution describing it as\u00a0worse than\u00a0vote buying.\u00a0The Executive Director of GII,\u00a0Linda Ofori Kwafo, said it was \u201cakin to\u00a0abuse of office.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pro-opposition group, \u2018The Truth Forum\u2019, also cautioned President John Mahama to desist from what it called the distribution of freebies to buy votes ahead of the December 7 elections.<\/p>\n<p>According to one of the leaders of the group, Yaw Buaben Asamoah, President Mahama\u2019s gift giving on the campaign trail in the name of public policy initiatives is not only a waste of the country\u2019s resources but demeaning to the country\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Presidential Advisor on corruption, Daniel Batidam, has defended President John Mahama\u2019s decision to distribute outboard motors to fisher folks during his campaign tour of the Western Region in August. The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), had accused the President of abusing incumbency and indulging in electoral corruption, for distributing the outboard motors among other items. According [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":208468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[12647,2041,3,5270],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Outboard motor distribution not abuse of incumbency - Batidam - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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