Hours after the Informer Newspaper, an Accra daily, published that it is reliably informed Ghana’s 1st Lady, Mrs. Lordina Mahama is involved in some negative activities; her office has come out to flatly deny the allegation.
Hajia Zenab, spokesperson to the First Lady, told Peace FM in an interview during the Midday news bulletin on Wednesday July 10, 2014 that the allegations were only meant to make President Mahama unpopular and ensure that he loses the 2016 elections.
She opined that if the “detractors” who cooked the “false story” had been fair to themselves, they would have realized that amongst the 1st ladies Ghana has had, Mrs. Lordina Mahama stands tall in terms of the way she goes about her humanitarian duties.
She emphatically stated that it is never true the current first lady was demanding contracts from ministers as published by the Informer Newspaper.
According to the editor of the pro-government newspaper, Andy Kankam, his trusted sources at the seat of the Presidency, have informed him that Mrs. Lordina Mahama continues to pile unnecessary pressure on senior ministers who are not availing themselves to be manipulated.
He further stated that if the allegations are true, then President Mahama’s administration stands to suffer most.
The Informer, in its Tuesday, July 9th Edition, published under a screaming headline; “Alleged Interference By First Lady…Five Ministers To Resign”.
According to the publication, “the ministers who will soon walk out of the Mahama-Amissah Arthur administration have persistently knocked on their doors, alleging of how they have been under incessant pressure by Ghana’s First Lady, for completely non-existing favours”.
The newspaper reported that, asked what these purported favours are, one said “they claim they have been under constant bombardment from the First Lady’s office for contracts, when there are none”.
His explanations were that the “people involved are key to the governance process of this country- and I trust my sources. The president has already promised to fight corruption even if it comes in a form of allegation against his administration. This is a litmus test for the president and the presidency to do something about what has been said”.
But Hajia Zenab noted that it is a propaganda tactic targeted at dampening the spirit of the 1st lady and also to denigrate her.
She challenged that “if it is indeed true that those ministers are complaining that she (Lordina Mahama) is troubling them, the best thing for them to do is to resign and narrate their ordeal to the people of Ghana.”
“People know where Andy is coming from. He wants to destroy the first family. Those planting the story don’t want to see President Mahama benefit from the good works of his wife. They want him to lose in 2016. But I can promise you such things wouldn’t deter her from carrying on with her good works.”