Deputy Propaganda Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Solomon Nkansah, has chastised the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for casting aspersions and slurs at President John Dramani Mahama’s junior brother, Ibrahim Mahama, who is said to be highly indebted to Merchant Bank and accused of being responsible for the bank’s lack of profit making.

To him, those commenting on the matter, especially members of the NPP, have no fair idea of what they are pontificating about.

The loan sourced by Mr. Ibrahim Mahama on behalf of his company Engineers and Planners became the subject of media and political discourse, following the proposed sale of Merchant Bank to FirstRand of South Africa, largely because of his company's indebtedness to Merchant Bank. The debt according to reports is currently pegged at 175 million Ghana cedis.

A pro-opposition group Alliance For Accountable Governance (AFAG) even waded into the fray calling for the assets of Mr. Ibrahim Mahama to be frozen pending investigations into the matter.

Over the past few weeks, the issue of Mr. Mahama’s indebtedness to the Merchant Bank has resurfaced following the announcement of its intended sale to Fortiz Equity Fund.

Speaking on OKAY FM, Solomon Nkansah who is in support of the sale of Merchant Bank to a wholly-owned Ghanaian company, Fortiz Equity Firm, admonished the NPP to cease crying more than the bereaved since they (NPP) sold all shares of state strategic properties to foreigners under fraudulent means.

According to him, every serious minded government will not engage in wholesale of National Strategic Assets to foreigners whose whooping profits drains the country’s economy; thus “if the preference is a local or indigenous Ghanaian company buying the bank, then it is better than foreign companies.”

“…..this man took the loan during NPP era which he deserved and has every capacity to pay. NPP started harassing him after his brother became the President of Ghana; this is a guy we should celebrate but because of sheer partisan politics, wickedness and witchcraft, the NPP wants to destroy him,” he fumed.