NPP accuses First Lady of vote-buying

John Mahama and wife

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the First Lady, Lordina Mahama, of using millions of Ghanaian taxpayers’ money to share gifts across the country in exchange for votes come December elections.

Addressing a news conference in Accra on Wednesday, the acting General Secretary, John Boadu, said “the lavish gifts” being dished out by Mrs Mahama is worrying.

He said: “The wife of the President of the Republic is going around the country, with a fleet of trucks load of goodies, which she is sharing for votes. These run into millions of dollars."



The NPP has, therefore, called for full disclosure on who is funding her charity programme.
"Ghanaians deserve to know. How much is being spent. Who is paying for it? Where is the money coming from?” he asked.

“...Ghanaians also have the right to question the timing of the escalation of the First Lady’s gifts-sharing expedition and the volume and costs of the gifts being shared."

He said in 2012, "we saw how over the last four months to the polls, some $4 billion dollars that was not budgeted for was taken out of state coffers and spent in a desperate and reckless attempt for Mahama to hold on to power. We all remember the stories of GYEEDA, SADA, Woyome, etc."

"What is even more worrying is the silence of the President. The NPP argued that to refuse to disclose the sources of funding for the First Lady's charity work is to add to the perception that the root and head of the corruption overwhelming the country is indeed the First Family.

“The President was silent on why babies are dying in our hospitals because there are no incubators or oxygen. The President did not explain why students in boarding schools are left to starve, whiles his wife, the First Lady can find money to travel across the country giving away election year goodies,” John Boadu added.