• He explains that her husband, former President Mahama's failure to set up an Emolument Committee to look into such payments is the cause of the current confusion
• The governing NPP stalwart's stance stems from several calls for the former First Lady to follow the precedence set up by First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo and wife of Vice President Bawumia, Samira
In a rather interesting twist of events, a leading member of the NPP and nephew of President Akufo-Addo has jumped to the defence of the Former First Lady and wife of John Mahama.
Gabby Otchere Darko in a tweet on the morning of Wednesday, July 14 reacted to increasing calls for Mrs Lordina Mahama to follow the footsteps of her counterparts to refund monies paid to her in the form of salaries and allowances during the tenure of her husband as president.
According to him, her husband, John Dramani Mahama ought to be blamed rather for failing to do due diligence during his tenure as president.
Following the decision of First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo and wife of the Vice President, Samira Bawumia to refund the monies, New Patriotic Party’s General Secretary, John Boadu challenged the former First Lady, Lordina to follow suit.
“…let me say this emphatically. Former President Mahama’s wife, Lordina Mahama, must, as a matter of urgency, refund all monies paid to her since January 2017 till now. Those she received as far back as 2009 should also be refunded. The monies she has received from that time till now would amount to GHC3.2 million,” John Boadu charged in an interview on TV Africa.
Several other Ghanaians have jumped on the wagon to pressurise Lordina Mahama to make the payments. In fact, a statement was widely circulated on social media purporting that the former First Lady had taken the cue and was going to refund the monies to the state.
But in a quick rebuttal, she posted the said statement on her social media pages and labelled them as fake, an action which was also mirrored by her husband, John.
Reacting to the development, while defending Madam Lordina, Gabby Otchere Darko blamed former President Mahama for failing to establish an independent Emoluments Committee as a recommendation from the 2011 Constitution Review Commission report.
“Leave Lordina Mahama alone! She doesn’t have to refund her alawa. Not her fault her husband who says he believes in the 2011 Constitution Review Commission Report’s recommendation to set up an Independent Emoluments Committee yet he never ever saw the need to attempt to do it.” Gabby’s tweet read.
Leading NPP Member, Gabby Otchere Darko