Ibrahim Mahama & "Hotel Waa Waa's" Case Differ; I Took "Just One Shot" Of Hotel Because.... Kwesi Pratt

Kwesi Pratt, Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, has questioned calls by opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for President John Mahama's brother, Ibrahim Mahama, to account for State machinery his company used in dredging the Odaw River. The Minority in Parliament on Thursday claimed equipment used by Ibrahim Mahama were procured by the State and so, demanded that Mr. Mahama pays for the full cost of the machinery. The Government of Ghana entered into an agreement with GP Gunter Papenburg AG, a German Equipment Company in October last year, for the supply of the equipment. But speaking on Peace FM's "kokrokoo", Mr. Pratt challenged the minority party's position on the issue, claiming that Ibrahim Mahama and his company, Engineers and Planners (E&P) did nothing wrong using State equipment to distil the river. He rather blamed Ibrahim Mahama for allowing himself to be criticized by the minority because to him, he could have saved himself the public ridicule. To Mr. Pratt, Ibrahim Mahama and E&P's use of state equipment to dredge the river was a humanitarian act and so, doesn't deserve such barrage of criticisms. He further sought to clear the minds of Ghanaians about his posture on the purchase of a hotel by one of the sons of then President Agyekum Kufour government during his tenure. He noted that his present position on Ibrahim Mahama's acquisition of State machinery differs from the action that President John Agyekum Kufour took that attracted opposing reactions when his (Kufuor's) son bought the African Regent hotel. According to him, he called for investigations into the purchase of the hotel, popularly called "Hotel Wawa", because former President Kufour had detained some journalists under the pretext that they had captured shots of the hotel with their cameras. “What was wrong with calling for investigations into allegations being made against the Presidency, …As a citizen of Ghana, what I said then was that the matter should be investigated and the full facts established. That’s what I said. If there’s a similar situation today, I will still take one shot like I did before. Why did I take one shot? I took one shot in solidarity with journalists of TV Africa. I didn’t take one shot because President Kufour’s son had bought a house or hotel. “That’s not why I did that. I took one shot because journalists doing their legitimate duty had been imprisoned in the President’s house for taking a photograph of that hotel. That’s why I took one shot in solidarity with those journalists. So, get your facts right. There’s no hypocrisy in this matter at all.” In his concluding remarks, Mr. Pratt however called for Ibrahim Mahama to face the full rigours of the law if his use of the equipment smacks of deceit.

Source: Adu Gyamfi Ameyaw/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana