President John Mahama has come under fire from Dr. Joshua Jebuntie Zaato, a senior lecturer at the University of Ghana’s Political Science Department, over his handling of the recent dollar gift controversy involving Sammy Gyamfi, the acting CEO of the Ghana Gold Board.
Dr. Zaato criticized President Mahama for lacking the courage to hold Gyamfi accountable, attributing the President’s leniency to Gyamfi’s significant influence and strategic role within the party.
“This man is so big, so important to the President’s party that there is no one in the party who has the balls to go out and tell the president to fire Sammy Gyamfi,” Dr. Zaato stated.
According to Dr. Zaato, President Mahama’s decision not to pursue further disciplinary action against Gyamfi was unsurprising, given Gyamfi’s power and influence.
“No matter how you look at these issues, no one in this country will say they are surprised by this development. If you look at the politics and who the person is, nobody will say he or she is surprised that the president took only the apology and let it go,” Dr. Zaato said.
Dr. Zaato noted that the absence of dissent following the scandal demonstrates Gyamfi’s entrenched power, with many government appointees and party loyalists openly supporting him.
“There is nobody who has the stature and the power like Sammy Gyamfi to go and tell the president to fire him. That is why when this issue happened, almost every government appointee fell in line. They were all whipped into line. Some of them went on national television, adding their support to him,” Dr. Zaato added.
Dr. Zaato questioned President Mahama’s commitment to being different from the previous government, given his response to the incident.
“The problem is this: when the president came to power, he wanted to establish that he was different from the former president. But how different can you claim to be when your response to such a serious incident is merely to accept an apology and move on?” he queried.