Media Foundation’s Sulemana Braimah strips bare Government Official 1
Although investigations into the Airbus scandal is yet to name the culpable persons, the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, peels the layers off Government Official 1 in an intriguing analysis, he posted on his Facebook wall.
Explosive document: Airbus confesses sharing bribes in Ghana as £3bn corruption fine bites
1. The revelations of bribery/corruption are contained in court documents, they are not allegations, assumptions or perceptions.
2. They are revelations because the ‘payers’ of the bribes confessed to paying.
3. Even though those to whom the bribe monies were paid directly, were not said to be in government or government officials (intermediaries) at the time, at least one of them named as “Intermediary 5” is said to be a relative of an ELECTED government official.
4. The Elected government official is said to have been a key decision-maker in the purchase of the military aircraft. The Payments were meant to induce or seek favours from this elected government official concerning the purchase of the military aircraft.
5. The Elected official assumed office in 2009 and was still in office or in government in 2015. So could this influential elected government official be?
6. Three Government officials could be described as key decision-makers for the purchase of Military aircraft: ( i)The President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces (ii)The Vice President and Chairman of the Ghana Armed Forces Council and (iii) The Minister for Defence.
7. But Ministers of Defence even if they are elected MPs cannot, technically, be referred to or described as elected government officials. As far as their Ministerial portfolios are concerned, they are appointed government officials. They get to be Ministers by Appointment, not by-elections. But let’s even assume that where such ministers are MPs, they can be referred to as elected government officials and continue the analysis.
8. In 2009, the Minister for Defence was Lt.Gen. Henry Smith. He was an appointed government official, not an elected one. He was not also an MP. So he possibly could not be the key elected government official we are looking for. The next Defence Minister who was an MP was Mark Woyongo, who served from Feb 2013 to July 2014. But Woyongo was elected as MP in the 2012 elections and so could not have been the elected official we are searching for who was in power in 2009. The other Defence Minister was Dr Ben Kumbour who was also an MP. But he was not Defence Minister until July 2014 and thus would not have been a key decision-maker in 2009. That leaves President Mills and then Vice President Mahama as the ‘key suspects’ that are elected government officials with Key decision-making powers concerning the purchase of Military air crafts.
9. But President Mills died in July 2012. He, therefore, could not have been the elected government official who was still in power in 2015 referred to by the court document. At this stage, we are left with Vice/President John Mahama.
10. Vice President Mahama was elected in 2009 together with President Mills. He was, thus, an elected government official. As Vice President, he was the Chairman of the Ghana Armed Forces Council. He was thus a key decision-maker in the procurement of military equipment including aircraft. In 2015, he was still an elected government official, this time as President. So could he be the one in question?
THE STATEMENT BY FORMER AG
The statement issued by the former Attorney General accusing the media of misreporting, by itself, contains aspects of misreporting. Paragraph two of the statement says: The reports alleging that Airbus SE paid bribes during the administration of President John Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama are false, misleading and do not reflect the approved judgment.” This statement is rather false and misleading. The Court said airbus officials admitted paying bribes to intermediaries, one of whom, (Intermediary 5) was a relative to an elected government official.
So yes, bribes were paid, according to the payers. Did the said key elected government official for who the bribe monies were intended, receive the bribe monies? We don’t know. But we need to know
Where on earth was John Mahama elected in 2009? In 2008 elections, was John Mahama on the ballot paper??
John Mahama was elected as a package deal with Mills!
In the first article you published, I told you for a fact that one do not need to be a rocket scientist before knowing the official 5 and the elected government official
It’s John Mahama and his brother …….
Family with corruption
Is sad our own investigators will seek further evidences they know realistically won’t be provided! Back & forte,they will shockingly trashed the case because they are each others keeper. Let’s sell this country to Rwanda.
Say it again
Since when did we start electing our Vice-Ps?
Was VP Bawumia elected, No!!
Was VP Mahama elected Yes! You would want us to believe.
A vice president is nominated by a party’s presidential candidate and approved by the party’s council. He becomes a running mate. Take note, a running mate. On election day the only the presidential candidates name and picture appears on the ballot paper. But in effect the running mate is in the person presidential candidate, like you marry and you take your husband’s name. If you are in doubt search for Mahama’s vice presidential and presidential swearing in and listen to him carefully. He said Elected and not Appointed. I close my case.
Do we elect VP in Ghana? if yes…on which ballot paper and polling station?
The vice president, is a a vice president nominee who only becomes vice president upon the election of the presidential candidate.Since your analysis made room to eliminates others on account certain parameters I thought you could have done same to the former president by acknowledging that between 2009 and 2012 he was not an elected official. By that it leaves no one there but only push for a thorough investigation into this matter.it would have made your analysis fair.
This is wishful thinking. Our constitution requires that presidents go to the polls with their nominated Vice Presidents. Therefore, the election of a president automatically leads to the election of the Vice President. This is in contrast with the British system when the prime minister goes to the polls alone. The analysis made by Mr Sulemana above is true and fair.
Have you been following the Oath of Office often administered by the CJ during the Presidential inauguration? “I Kofi Manu, having been ELECTED to the HIGH OFFICE of VICE PRESIDENT of the republic of Ghana do swear in the name of the Almighty God…..”. That is how the Constitution defines the position of the Vice President (Elected)
A bit of education. Article 60 (2) provides that “a candidate for the office of Vice-President shall be designated by the candidate for the office of President before the election of the President”, Article 60 (4) of the 1992 Constitution provides as follows : “A candidate shall be deemed to be duly elected as Vice-President if the candidate who designated him as candidate for election to the office of Vice-President has been elected in accordance with the provisions of article 63 of this Constitution”. So in short, the office of Vice-President is an elected office.
Now. Mahama was an elected government official as vice president but am not interested in that. Let’s keep calm and allow investigators do their work. It is only then we can know this government official Airbus is talking about
Can Ghana ever be as serious as expected?. Let each concerned citizen keep his/her sincere answer.
Grt analysis so where does that leave us?
a. So was the bribe paid to the government official one? If yes,
b. was it the tax payers money used to pay government official 1? If the answer is No
Then what is our own?
I am sure you have been to school and know how businesses make profit from the things they sell. Don’t you think that a company that gives bribe to a third party for the contract of purchase will factor the value of the bribe into its total cost for the item sold? Are you sure tax payers in Ghana are not affected by the inflated cost of the Airbus that includes the value of the bribery? We can have respect, affection, and admiration of someone but when facts come out that show that the person did not deserve the respect, affection, and admiration we lavished upon him or her, let us not fail or be afraid to remonstrate. That is the only way to fight corruption. If someone steals something that belongs to you and give you a fraction of it as a gift to you, what can you actually say about the person? We need descent opposition parties and opposition candidates for the progress of our democracy. So, let us not think that one candidate is indispensable no matter how s/he proves himself or herself. You may be deeply convinced of something but you should not at the same time ignore any genuine indication that we may be wrong. With all these facts in the background I am not drawing conclusions but I am very concerned about the sudden death of President Pro Attah Mills who I believe would have vehemently opposed the corruption underlying the scandal and launched investigation. The fact that the payment continued after his death is a possibility that he did not know about it. If he knew about it and didn’t do anything about it it is still too bad. If it were in America or U.K that would be thoroughly investigated as well. On that note nobody should be surprised about why those countries are doing better than us despite our natural wealth. Let us quash the mindset that when it is past it doesn’t matter anymore if we actually want to take Ghana forward. A word to the wise is enough.