Good Morning Ghana show host, Randy Abbey, has spoken on the raging issue of whether or not government is paying for the office accommodation of former president John Dramani Mahama.
During the September 15 edition of the programme that airs on Accra-based Metro TV, he challenged Richard Ahiagbah of the governing New patriotic Party, NPP, who claimed to have documents proving government was settling the said bills.
Ahiagbah came under pressure from co-panelist, Sammy Gyamfi of the National Democratic Congress, NDC, to share the evidence of payment he claimed to have, his response was that it was not immediately available on his phone.
Randy then intervened: “There is no document that proves that the office accommodation is paid by government.”
When Ahiagbah tried to affirm his position, Randy stressed: “Maybe something else flashed your face. There is no document.”
“I saw the document (and) I made a conscious decision not to circulate it,” the NPP National Communications officer stated.
The discussions were on recent claims by John Dramani Mahama that aside his monthly pension, he was settling a lot of his bills all by himself because government had failed to pay his full emoluments.
Ahiagbah has in a subsequent interview on Citi FM acceded that government is not paying the office accommodation for the former president.
What Mahama told TV3 in an exclusive interview:
“I receive only my monthly pension like [former] President Kufuor, and [late former] President Rawlings was receiving [it] before he died. That is all I get.
“I pay the electricity bill for my house and my office, I pay the water bill for my house and my office. I live in my own accommodation so the State does not pay me anything for accommodation.
“They haven’t given me an office, I rent an office in East Cantonments, I pay the rent myself, I pay my own fuel, the State doesn’t give me fuel, I pay my own domestic staff, I pay my own medical bills, I pay my own air tickets when I travel,” former President John Dramani Mahama said.
SARA
Randy Abbey