Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah, the Deputy Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has claimed that since leaving government in 2017, former President John Dramani Mahama had spent about GH32 million on him.
Claiming that Mr. Mahama has personally profited greatly from state cash, Owusu-Bempah advised Ghanaians not to believe the former President’s criticisms of excessive public spending.
He claimed in a Facebook post that there is no connection between former President John Mahama and responsible leadership, pointing out that the former president has been deducting expenses from his present residential property and emoluments since 2017.
Mr. Owusu-Bempah claims that Mr. Mahama has collected GH¢18 million from taxpayers in addition to GH¢14 million in ex-gratia.
Even after promising to do away with ex-gratia if elected again, Mr. Mahama still receives a sizable amount of state funding.
In addition to receiving GH¢14 million ex-gratia, he revealed that Mr. Mahama retired with a salary of GH¢22,809, which was later raised to GH¢35,000 a month as a result of suggestions made by the Presidential Emoluments Committee regarding the terms of service for officeholders holding Article 71 positions.
According to this adjustment, Mr. Mahama has been paid GH¢1,934,832.00 in non-taxable salary since leaving government. In addition, since 2017, he has gotten GH¢9,123.00 in rent per month, for a total of GH¢629,487.00 in housing allowance.
Owusu-Bempah further claimed that Mr. Mahama continues to collect benefits from a number of state-run programmes and employees, such as his niece Joyce Bawa Mogtari and Felix Ofosu Kwakye, who get GH¢9,000 in allowances per month.
In addition, he has a fully equipped office in Cantonments, Accra, complete with steward, gardener, and cook in addition to communication tools.
“For transportation, John Mahama has been given two Toyota Land Cruiser V8 vehicles, along with a chauffeur, maintained and comprehensively insured by the State. These vehicles are replaced every four years, with each V8 costing GH$800,000.00, amounting to over GH¢1.6 million.
“The state also fuels these vehicles weekly at a cost of GH¢2,000, resulting in a total of GH¢324,000 since 2017. Additionally, the state has funded 18 official overseas trips for Mr. Mahama, amounting to over $1,000,000.00.
“In total, we are talking about some GH¢32 million state money that the former President has greedily enjoyed,” Mr. Owusu-Bempah claimed.
He highlighted that John Mahama is the only President in the Fourth Republic to have received such a significant ex-gratia and continues to enjoy an unprecedented end-of-service package.
“I don’t even want to go into all the emoluments
that this ingrate of a former president has enjoyed
from his days as Assemblyman, Member of
Parliament, Deputy Minister, Minister, Vice
President, and President of Ghana. At this
opportune time, I don’t know what’s more
heartbreaking; Mahama’s gluttonous self-
indulgence or his hypocrisy and double
standards. I guess the political correctness raison
d’être; something that’s legal but yet immoral. In
fact, it’s always interesting to know, in these
recessionary times when everyone is struggling,
that Mr. Mahama is actually draining the state
coffers while at the same time campaigning to be
president again,” Owusu-Bempah concluded.