The Maybey and Johnson bribery scandal, which is threatening to bring down a number of top officials in the Mills administration, appears to have claimed its first casualty. Alhaji Baba Kamara, one of the top names on President John Mills’ list of Ambassadors and High Commissioners, appears to have lost his job as High Commissioner designate to Nigeria.
Baba Camara; First Casualty of M&J Scandal? – Ghana Web
The Maybey and Johnson bribery scandal, which is threatening to bring down a number of top officials in the Mills administration, appears to have claimed its first casualty.
Alhaji Baba Kamara, one of the top names on President John Mills’ list of Ambassadors and High Commissioners, appears to have lost his job as High Commissioner designate to Nigeria.
He was not part of the ten envoys, sworn-in by President John Mills on Wednesday, October 07. His name was struck-out from the list of envoys handed to the media prior to the short ceremony, which was performed by President John Mills.
The Castle did not give any reasons for his absence, but it is common knowledge that Alhaji Camara’s name has been linked to the crippling Maybey and Johnson Scandal, which is now a matter of investigation both in the UK and in Ghana.
He has been named as having taken over fifty thousand pounds in bribes from the UK Construction Firm, in the 1990s to influence the award of Government contracts to the UK company.
The Attorney General, Betty Mould Iddrissu has been in the United Kingdom since Monday, October 5, gathering more evidence on the scandal to decide what line of action President Mills should take against people like Minister of Health, George Sipa Yankey, who was once convicted over charges of causing financial loss to the state, former Minister of Finance, Mr. Kwame Peprah, who has already done time in jail for causing financial loss to the state, Alhaji Abubakar Saddiq Boniface, a former minister in the Kufuor Administration who was at the time working at the Ministry of Finance, among others.
Citi News gathers that the Attorney General has concluded her assignment in the UK and is expected to fly back home soon with the dossier given her by the Serious Fraud Office in the UK.
Meanwhile, at the Swearing-in Ceremony on Wednesday, President John Mills asked the new envoys to live up to expectation as they move to represent Ghana at their respective posts.
Baba Kamara’s ambassadorial dreams hanging
Baba Kamara, a former deputy treasurer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused of collecting bribes from a UK construction firm has had his ambassadorial dreams jolted, at least for now.
The ambassador designate for Nigeria was due to be given his letters of credence but his name was struck out from a list of would-be envoys.
Critics have linked government’s failure or refusal to provide his letters of credence to the bribery allegations in which he and some functionaries of the ruling NDC, past and serving, were accused of inflating project prices undertaken in Ghana by a UK construction firm, Mabey & Johnson in the 1990’s.
Sources at the Foreign Ministry have meanwhile explained that Baba Kamara will be commissioned immediately the Nigerian government approves his letters of agreement sent on his behalf by the Ghanaian government.
Yet on the Mabey and Johnson case, the Attorney General, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu who was dispatched to the UK for fact finding by President Mills is due back in Ghana Wednesday night.
She has been tasked to conduct thorough investigations into the allegations, and advise government accordingly.
Critics have vehemently argued for the resignation of the named officials, pending the outcome of the investigations.
Joynews/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana