Airbus Scandal: Government Official 1 can be anybody – Kwesi Pratt

Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has asked politicians to ‘rise above pettiness’ in their discourse.

This follows a recent controversy surrounding the airbus bribery scandal reported a few days ago, and the attempt to name some presumed principle actors in the scandal.

Following the revelation of the bribery scheme, some Ghanaians have been on the ‘hunt’ for who government official 1 and intermediary 5 and 8 are since no name was mentioned in the document.

While government has charged the Special Prosecutor to deal with the issue, the New Patriotic Party is confident that government official 1 is former President John Mahama.

On Monday [February 3, 2020], the ruling party called on former President John Dramani Mahama to respond to allegations that an individual close to a top government official was bribed by Airbus between 2011 and 2015 in the now-famous scandal.

All Fingers Point To Mahama

Addressing a press conference in Accra, Mr Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, Communications Director for the NPP said “the companies used to receive the bribe money have been named. The shareholder who is very close to the former President has been named. Document falsification, kickbacks, lies and overpayments is what the Airbus scandal is all about. And it appears John Mahama is deeply involved.”

Adding that, “he cannot continue to hide behind his party members including a former Attorney-General. Of course, we are all aware that he hates answering questions on corruption, but answer he must, because at this moment, all fingers point to him and one of his brothers.”

Rise Above Pettiness

However, speaking during a panel discussion on Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Kwesi Pratt said government “official 1 could be anybody; a parliamentarian, minister of defense, vice president, or president”.

According to him, so far, “no Ghanaian official has been indicted or convicted…what we have are a series of allegation…” adding “if a corrupt act emerges, let’s deal with the issue (void of politics) and punish the culprits to serve as a deterrent. It is not about who is going to win the next elections or NPP or NDC. we should rise above pettiness and get to the point of principle”.