I never gave state money to delegates – Deputy MASLOC boss fights back

The Deputy Chief Executive of MASLOC, Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah, has denied ever giving state money to delegates, as loans, ahead of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) primaries.

In a two-page rejoinder available to the  theghanareport.com, she said the accusations are completely false and baseless.

“I would like to point out that there is no iota of truth in this statement. If the reporters were truly confident in their ‘findings’, why did they find the need to use the caveat ‘allegedly?” she quizzed.

Ms Zakariah said she is not the custodian of state money and therefore, could not have used public money to run her campaign.

Her response comes after Corruption Watch, an anti-corruption campaign run by CDD,  published what they said were findings of an alleged vote-buying during the NPP primaries.

Per the findings of the report, Ms Zakariah, had admitted to giving out loans to delegates prior to the primaries.

But the deputy MASLOC boss justified her actions, insisting the beneficiaries are eligible.

She said there are well known laid down procedures for the disbursement of loans under the scheme.

“On the date an event was organized to present loans to 35 groups and as is the practice, and being someone from the area, I supervised the disbursement and addressed the gathering.

“I advised the beneficiary groups to utilise the loans judiciously and to invest in their farming activities. I explained that I had to plead with my bosses to release their disbursements ahead of time because it was the farming season and they needed to till the soil and sow the crops,” she noted.

Ms Zakariah who narrowly lost the slot to Farouk Aliu Mahama said the beneficiaries were not chosen on political grounds as claimed by Corruption Watch.

“When the lady called me from Corruption Watch, she said from their information, ‘delegates from the Yendi constituency were given MASLOC loans.’ In a very candid response, I said, ‘of course, there were delegates as part of the beneficiaries, but they were not only delegates,” she added.

The Deputy MASLOC boss said despite this clear and unambiguous statement, Corruption Watch without any contrary evidence stated categorically that the beneficiaries were all delegates. This, she said is false.

“I must emphasise that the beneficiaries were not delegates as claimed. Unless they were purposely excluded, some of the beneficiaries of a transparent loan scheme were always going to be members of the various political parties including the NPP and some would be delegates,” she stressed.

Find below the rejoinder from the deputy MASLOC boss

Download (DOCX, Unknown)