Pianim's 'blow' ruffles NPP

Kwame Pianim has told Joy News that he still stands by his comments

Frank Agyekum speaks to Joy News© Copyright myjoyonline

The main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it is dismayed by the revelation on Monday during a Joy FM debate that President Mills refused to expose criminals who attempted to offer him bribes.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the party said if people are bold enough to walk up to the highest office of the land and seek to offer bribes to the President, then Ghana is losing the fight against corruption.

The party wants those behind attempts to bribe President Mills exposed immediately.

The statement said the timing and coincidence of the attempted bribes with the ongoing investigations into the Mabey & Johnson corruption scandal, embarrasses the Presidency, the NDC government, as well as the nation.

Reacting to a question during a Joy FM debate on Monday, Mr Pianim said he had personally seen the president rejecting financial inducements on two separate occasions.

The business mogul added that that quality had been lacking in most African leaders, including “John the first or John the second.” He however added that “at least, now we are progressing and we have a president who I think will not steal from the people.”

Spokesperson for former president Kufuor, Frank Agyekum, issued an earlier reaction, saying Mr Pianim's comments rather raise lots of questions.

“We want to find out, was he present when these gifts were being given and if he was not present did the people come to report to him? And if they came to report to him, why would they [do that]? Could it be that he knew about it that's why they came to report to him,” Mr Agyekum said of Mr Pianim.

Mr Agyekum said his boss had maintained high standards of discipline while in office, a quality he had consistently preached to his subordinates about.

Whilst Mr Pianim has in a later interview with Joy News said he stands by his story, anti-corruption campaigner Vitus Azeem says the economist's observation about President Mills is not enough grounds to conclude that the president is incorruptible as “corruption goes beyond bribery.”

Rawlings reacts
Meanwhile, an aide to ex-President Rawlings says comments by economist Kwame Pianim that he could vouch for President Mills is a vindication of the ex-president's confidence in Prof Mills' integrity.

Kofi Adams believes Mr Pianim's comments only affirm what have been Mr Rawlings' suggestions that Prof Mills “cannot be corrupted.”

Mr Adam's comments come amid exchanges between the top brass of the two main political parties over what appears to be Mr Pianim's endorsement of the president's credibility.

In an interview with Joy News on Tuesday, Mr Adams described Mr Pianim as “a stubborn student of Jerry Rawlings and it has taken him a long time to come to appreciate what [former] President Rawlings has been talking about President Mills all this while that he is a leader that cannot be corrupted.”

Mr Adams said the former president has long known that Prof Mills is the “most qualified person to continue with the agenda of probity and accountability and justice to the people.”