The Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, has clarified that he is not responsible for the ‘clearing agent’ label associated with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
This clarification follows President Akufo-Addo’s remarks at the 2024 Ghana Bar Association, Conference in Kumasi about a month ago, where he said that the numerous corruption allegations against his administration and family were part of a deliberate smear campaign orchestrated by John Mahama.
He said: “I’m aware that there’s a deliberate, politically motivated effort to stigmatise my government, my family, and myself as corrupt.
“I suspect this is payback for the damaging allegations of corruption levelled against members of the erstwhile Mahama administration, some of which have led to criminal convictions, while others are still being prosecuted in court.”
Addressing party supporters at a community durbar in Tunga, Ablekuma West Constituency in Accra on Friday, September 27, 2024, Mahama stated that President Akufo-Addo’s failure to address corruption within his administration earned him the ‘clearing agent’ label.
“The Akufo-Addo government has decided not to fight corruption. When there is a report that a government official has stolen money or engaged in a corrupt deal, the President himself publicly clears the person.
“That is why Ghanaians call him a ‘clearing agent.’ When he spoke at the Bar Association conference, he claimed that I call him a clearing agent.
“I have never called him a clearing agent. I said that due to his actions, Ghanaians have given him that name. I was merely pointing out that Ghanaians are calling him a clearing agent, not me.”
