Call it opulence, call it affluence, call it luxury, call it abundance, call it wealth ? it was all there and more ? the wedding of the daughter of Vice President Aliu Mahama, Ghana?s latest nouveau riche, who claims that NPP members came into office with their Pajeros and their mansions, but whose behaviour in office shows that they are rather busy now amassing those Pajeros and mansions.
At least Brong Ahafo Regional Minister Nana Kwadwo Seinti has evidence to that effect.
The "wedding of the decade" took place in Accra last Saturday March 13, 2004. The groom of the Vice President?s daughter is called Mr. Habib. According to Ghana Palaver sources present at the wedding, Mr. Habib?s poor mother, a former ?waakye? seller at Nyaneba Estate but now living in a boys? quarters at the Ringway Estate was completely ignored in the entire festivities.
Contrary to custom, all proceedings and activities in connection with the "amariya" took place in Vice President Aliu Mahama?s residence. Not one activity was performed in the poor boy?s mother?s house prompting some of the invited guests to grumble and curse the arrogance of power that causes "big men" to turn custom upside down.
Former Miss Mahama was studying at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. According to Ghana Palaver sources in Atlanta, just before the wedding, she was supposed to have graduated, so the mother plus a large entourage flew to Atlanta and threw a lavish party for her.
But alas, it all turned out to be an ?April Fool?, a big hoax and a disappointment. The daughter had lied about her completion of the degree requirements. In fact, she received NO degree. According to our Atlanta, Georgia source, the young Miss Mahama did not complete the degree requirements and has shown no interest in resuming the studies. In short, she simply walked off her studies. When her father, who had been kept in the dark about these developments heard about it, he was furious but there was nothing she could do about it.
Ghana Palaver has learnt that several people from their area assisted with cooking and other chores but were warned to keep their mouths shut!
Our sources further inform us that her Vice President father Aliu Mahama has acquired a house in Atlanta for her.
Back in Accra, on Saturday March 13, 2004, Miss Mahama?s wedding to Habib took place. The reception was held at??You guessed it??the State House Banquet Hall! Number of guests? ??You may not guess it??Two Thousand (2,000) people.
On Sunday March 14, there was a banquet for the ?nouveux riche? couple. Venue? ??Again you guessed it??the State House Banquet Hall. Number of guests? ??We doubt if you can guess it??Two Thousand five hundred (2,500) people.
The banqueting and cavorting went on through Monday and Tuesday and finally ended on Wednesday. Not bad for the daughter of a man who only three years ago was moving from Ministry to Ministry looking for even ?5 million contracts.
Total cost of the wedding, including air fares for the couple and their friends to travel down from the USA, has been conservatively put at around ?1.4 Billion. Our source in Atlanta, Georgia, tells us that husband Habib borrowed the funds for his trip to Ghana so there was no way he could have financed the wedding.
That Vice President Aliu Mahama and his family gaining notoriety for living the lives of Oriental nabobs and wealthy Arab sheikhs is fast becoming legendary. Two years ago, his son in first year at KNUST threw an all-night birthday party the cost of which was put conservatively at around ?100 million. This was duly reported in your authoritative Ghana Palaver.
And only last year, Vice President Aliu Mahama?s brother elbowed his way into being allocated a reserved Government plot in the plush Switchback Road residential area of Accra. This was also reported in your authoritative Ghana Palaver.
Back to the wedding, Ghana Palaver is still ferreting to find out the circumstances under which the State House Banquet Hall was released to an individual private Ghanaian citizen ? never mind that she is the daughter of the Vice President ? for a private wedding, whether it was paid for and if so, how much, as well as the general policy regarding the use of the State House and its facilities, including the Banquet Hall, as far as individual private citizens are concerned.

Minister of State Wife Slap Lt. Sadia Bugbila

At the Vice Presidential ?wedding of the decade? held at the State House Banquet Hall recently involving the daughter of Vice President Aliu Mahama who has abandoned her studies at the Georgia State University, USA, to get married to Mr. Habib, son of the poor Nyaneba Estate ?waakye? seller, an altercation developed between the leader of the military detachment deployed to perform security duties at the ceremony, one Lieutenant Sadia Bugbila, and the wife of Minister of State at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Alhaji Rashid Bawa, one of the ladies in charge at the function, over food ration for the troops; the officer refusing to serve his troops with the leftover food that Mrs. Bawa was insisting was the only food available for them, as a result of which Mrs. Bawa committed the military and religious ?sacrilege? of slapping Lt. Bugbila, as a result of which tension has mounted in the barracks with the troops insisting on an apology from Mrs. Bawa, Alhaji Bawa, and the organizers of the event, impliedly the Vice President himself, whilst the NPP security apparatus are applying all their diplomatic skills and exploiting all their media contacts to ensure that the story does not get leaked to the press.