Mahama Flays ‘Terrorist Judgement’

Former President John Dramani Mahama has taken issue with Justice Eric Baah’s ruling in a defamatory suit by investigative journalist and Chief Executive of Tiger Eye PI, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, against Kennedy Agyapong, where the Court of Appeal’s judge described the works of the internationally acclaimed journalist as “investigative terrorism.”

Delivering a lecture on financing political campaigns at the UPSA auditorium on last Wednesday, March 22, communication expert Mahama called on all and sundry to uphold the country’s democracy by desisting from describing journalists who have been breaking their backs for the country as terrorists.

“We must also intensify stakeholder efforts and engagement on the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP). It is sad observing Ghana’s performance on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index score card after many years of NACAP’s existence. This is not how we programmed NACAP to be. NACAP can do better! And NACAP must do better!

God willing, in 2025, when I have the opportunity to be the President of Ghana who has been a President before, I will come with priceless experience to fix our broken nation. I want us to build the Ghana we want together by writing – not footnotes, not pages but – chapters in the anticorruption history of our dear country Ghana. We must also uphold human rights, including freedom of expression and not be describing some journalists as terrorists,” the former president urged.

According to former the former vice president under the late John Evan Atta Mills, “Mr. Chairman, my agenda to Build ‘The Ghana We Want Together’ from 2025, will involve far-reaching constitutional, political and governance reforms to restore confidence in our democracy and governance systems.”

Ghana today is broke. International credit rating agencies have placed us in junk status. Additional state financing can therefore not be a viable option on the table. Even if that becomes an option in the future, I recommend that we put in place an explicit Public Funding of Political Parties Bill in a bipartisan and inclusive manner, former president Mahama argued.

He also recommended however that “… should public funding of political parties be scaled up in the foreseeable future, then, an independent and credible institution must be selected to administer the state resources advanced to political parties. In that regard, a sharing formula could be established to ensure fairness, and specific disclosure requirements on beneficiary parties. This must be complemented by auditing and publication of party accounts.”