Ato Kwamena Dadzie: Mabey & Johnson - NDC’s porous defence

What does the NDC and its national chairman take Ghanaians for? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself after reading the party’s statement in response to allegations that some of its most senior members took bribes from UK construction firm, Mabey and Johnson. That statement signed by the party chairman, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, is very insulting – to say the least – and it only goes to show that the party is really hard-pressed to give the named officials a whitewash. “For the record, the NDC wishes to categorically state that it has never received funds from Mabey and Johnson Company,” the statement said. “Records available to the party do not reveal receipts of any such funds from the said company or its agents.” When did politicians start offering receipts for bribes they’ve taken? “Here’s your receipt, Mr. Mabey. Thanks for your custom. Say ‘hi’ to Mr. Johnson... and hey, come back with more, eh?” Alternatively... “Hullo, I Mabey and standing right next to me is my partner, Johnson. We are calling about the bribes we gave three of your members two weeks ago. Our auditors are in and they are asking for the receipts. Can you prepare some for us, please?” Who does that? No one takes receipts for bribes. We understand the NDC badly needs a whitewash – for itself and for its named members. But this is not how to go about it. The party’s assertion that Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings was never a member of the NDC finance committee and that Baba Kamara was a deputy treasurer and not the treasurer are well noted. But they are of little relevance here. In any case, no one has said that monies were paid directly to the NDC. The fact is that leading members of the NDC are alleged to have taken bribes to influence the award of contracts to the British company. Some of these monies undoubtedly went into the coffers of the NDC. And we don’t expect receipts to be issued for such payments into NDC coffers. The NDC (and no political party for that matter) writes receipts for ‘donations’ – euphemism for ‘bribes’ – they receive from all sorts of organisations and individuals. Otherwise, will Rawlings be kind enough to show us the duplicates of the receipts he gave to those who paid for his children’s school fees abroad? Credit: Ato Kwamena Dadzie (www.atokd.com)