CHRAJ throws out vote buying & corruption allegation against John Mahama

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has thrown out an alleged case of vote buying and corruption brought against former President John Dramani Mahama by a group affiliated to the ruling NPP and called Truth and Accountability Forum.

The complainants claimed that ahead of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential Primaries, the former President presented some 40 vehicles to the party, claiming further that this act impacted the results of the election, which he won.

They also requested that the Commission investigate the source of the funding for the 40 vehicles donated to the party.

But the Commission, in a 10-page report, dismissed the complainant’s petition, indicating that it was without merit.

At the end of its preliminary investigation into the allegations, the Commission came to the following findings of fact and conclusions:

a.) That the Respondent, HE former President John Dramani Mahama, is not a public officer;

b.) That the mandate of the Commission under Article 218 and Chapter 24 of the 1992 Constitution as well as s.7 (1) (a) and (c) of Act 456 deal specifically with public officers, and since the Commission has found as a fact that the position of a former President is not a public office, the anti-corruption investigative mandate of the Commission does not apply to the Respondent, a private citizen;

c.) And that the Commission finds as a fact that Respondent is not complicit in any ongoing corruption investigation by the Commission involving any public officer(s), adding that “investigation of corruption allegations against a public officer that implicates a private person makes that private person liable to the Commission’s corruption investigation mandate based on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article 218 of the 1992 Constitution in the Kamara case supra.”

The CHRAJ decision ends an almost year-long case first brought before the Commission in June 2019.