Newly elected National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay has descended heavily on Former President John Dramani Mahama after he made mockery of him for procuring a loan facility from a bank widely speculated to be owned by the latter’s brother.
Freddy Blay has dared the former president and the NDC to expose him if they find any wrongdoing in the transaction details with the bank.
The loan was arranged to enable Freddie Blay to realise his ambition of providing 275 buses for the various constituencies in the country.
To this day, 100 out of the planned 275 has arrived awaiting distribution and an outstanding 175 buses yet to be delivered.
John Mahama, on 6th July, took to his twitter timeline to throw jabs at the NPP and Freddie Blay for relying on a bank that was linked to his brother, Ibrahim Mahama to finance a project for their party.
The Former President who is seeking to lead the NDC into the 2020 polls for the second time tweeted, “$11.4 million Freddie Blay buses ahead of NPP election financed by Universal Merchant Bank? I thought Merchant Bank was sold to my brother, Ibrahim? So Ibrahim Mahama's bank financed the 275 buses for Blay & NPP? LOL!”
$11.4 million Freddie Blay buses ahead of NPP election financed by Universal Merchant Bank?
— John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) July 6, 2018
I thought Merchant Bank was sold to my brother, Ibrahim? So Ibrahim Mahama's bank financed the 275 buses for Blay & NPP? LOL! pic.twitter.com/kmAJP7Lnlv
This tweet by Mahama incurred the ‘wrath’ of Mr Blay who described it as an “unfortunate” act during an interview with Kojo Yankson on AM Show.
The NPP National Chairman observed that banks were nonpartisan and open to business to all manner of persons irrespective of their background thus expressed shock that the former president reacted in such manner.
He noted that though he has done his best not to drag the bank into the discourse, NDC and Mahama has mentioned it publicly and as such is an indication that should there have been anything wrong with the idea to go for a bank loan to purchase the 275 vehicles, they would have propagated it around.
“Fortunately, he John Mahama has said that we have gone for bank loan from a bank that is supposed to be a property of his brother so why have we now gone to them? It is unfortunate. I thought a bank is a bank, any individual if you want to put money you go there. Unfortunately, they have accepted and if they think there was some untoward things done or some corrupt practice they should call for it, they should ask the bank. He knows the bank,” Freddie Blay challenged.
“I have refrained from mentioning the bank or financial institutions, but they know. So they know it and they are telling that we have gone for it. If it was wrong they will go to the rooftop and trumpet it. They haven’t done it except to argue that we have come to their bank and so forth” he stressed.
The former Ellembele MP also recalled how the NDC party during the previous Mahama-led government imported over 300 Mahindra vehicles for the party use in the run-up to the 2016 elections.
Comparing the two situations, Freddie Blay wondered why a loan by an individual for a commercial activity will be subject of investigations, especially demanded by Mahama and his NDC party as they equally imported vehicles though not for commercial purposes.
