Government spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu has rejected claims that President John Mahama influenced the process leading to the award of the Damang Mine lease to Engineers & Planners.

The Abura Asebu-Kwamankese MP insists the President became “the biggest stumbling block” to the bid.

Speaking on PM Express on Monday with host Evans Mensah, Mr Kwakye Ofosu said the President deliberately stayed away from Cabinet discussions on the matter because of his brother, Ibrahim Mahama's, involvement.

“On the contrary, I will argue that the biggest obstacle to E&P taking that mine was the President,” he said.

According to him, the Lands and Natural Resources Minister first informed Cabinet that the Damang mining lease was expiring and that a decision had been taken not to renew it.

“At the Cabinet meeting that considered that particular matter of the Damang mining lease, the President recused himself. He did not sit in that meeting,” he said.

When host Evans Mensah asked why the President stepped aside, Mr Kwakye Ofosu replied: “Because he believed that it was an ethical thing to do, because we did not want the situation where it would appear that he was superintending the decision-making involving an entity that his brother had an interest in.”

He said the Vice President chaired the meeting in Mahama’s absence.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu also disclosed that Cabinet insisted on a competitive process for the lease instead of a direct allocation.

“I think we will struggle to find an instance where a competitive process has been used to award the lease of a mining concession in Ghana,” he said.

“When the minister came, the Cabinet records will show that the Cabinet insisted that a competitive process be used to select which company gets it.”

He maintained that Mahama repeatedly recused himself anytime the issue surfaced before Cabinet and stressed that the President was bound by Cabinet decisions.

“The President was not part of the decision-making and did not stampede the process,” he said.

He argued that government could easily have handed the concession directly to Engineers & Planners, but chose not to.

“We could simply have handed over to E&P without any competitive process, but Cabinet insisted that the competitive process be used,” he stated.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu said the committee responsible for the process publicly accounted for its work and explained why some companies succeeded while others failed.

He added that Parliament would still have the opportunity to scrutinise the lease agreement during ratification.

Defending the President further, he said Cabinet ministers freely expressed opposing views during deliberations.

“The debate at Cabinet that day was rigorous. People voiced their views frankly, without fear or favour,” he said.

“There was no rubber-stamp decision at that place.”

He concluded: “If you say that the President handed over to his brother, I would even agree that the President was the biggest stumbling block to E&P’s acquisition of the Damang Mine.”