“I don’t use Ford. I don’t like American cars. I use Japanese cars. Toyota is my car,” President John Dramani Mahama has said.
Mr Mahama made the comment in relation to the controversy surrounding the Ford Expedition vehicle gifted him by Burkinabe contractor, Jibril Kanazoe, who has been given a series of contracts by the government of Ghana.
Mr Kanazoe admitted giving President Mahama the SUV worth US$100,000, for which the President called to thank him. President Mahama has since come under intense pressure for accepting the gift. Critics say it put him in a conflict of interest situation.
But speaking with a group of selected clergy at the seat of government on Thursday June 23, Mr Mahama said: “The issue of a Ford Expedition, I have never been under the illusion that gift was a gift to the State and it has never been used for my personal comfort.”
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CJRAJ) has been petitioned to investigate the matter.
But Mr Mahama told the clergy: “It is a matter for the Commission on Human Rights. I hear there is a petition there and appropriately, we will respond to it.”
