President John Dramani Mahama's designation as Government Official 1 in the Airbus bribery scandal first came up in 2000.

He was mentioned in a report by the Special Prosecutor at the time, Martin Amidu's Corruption Assessment Report on the Agyapa Royalties deal.

Three years on, president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has used the said label in a jibe at Mahama's recent comments on the partisan and political nature of the judiciary.

Akufo-Addo jabbed Mahama during the 2023 Bar Conference that happened at Cape Coast.

Akufo-Addo said Mahama's dangerous attack on the judiciary was, "why right-thinking citizens should ensure the defeat in 2024 of the man whom the first Special Prosecutor identified as Government Official No.1, in the still unresolved Airbus Bribery Scandal."

Mahama has yet to respond to Akufo-Addo's jibe even though a number of National Democratic Congress (NDC) officials have replied the president including head of the party's legal team, Edudzi Kudzo Tamelo, who referred to Akufo-Addo as delusional.

"Delusional president, Mr Akufo Addo. Martin Amidu referred to you specifically as the mother serpent of CORRUPTION," he posted on Facebook on September 11, the same day Akufo-Addo addressed the annual Bar Conference.




Mahama's response to Martin Amidu

In an interaction with students of the University of Ghana, November 4, 2020, Mahama questioned "what stupidity" motivated the Special Prosecutor to mention him in an unrelated report.

He said: “Amidu goes and presents Agyapa investigations and I thought he was a man enough. They say investigate Agyapa, so present a report on Agyapa. If you have investigated Airbus, present a report on Airbus."

“In the Agyapa report, you know that it is going to be damning of this government and so you go and put one paragraph there about Airbus. Nobody asked you about Airbus. If you were man enough, present Agyapa and do a report on Airbus separately and then I will come and answer you on Airbus.

“But because he is a coward and they knew Agyapa was going to be discussed today, he put a paragraph on Airbus to equalize the discussion. What stupidity is this?”

Watch Mahama's response to Government Official 1 tag in 2020



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