The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused President Nana Akufo-Addo of desecrating the Presidency. 

The NDC says Ghana’s seat of government has been turned into a place for “criminal mafias.”

Addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Accra on Tuesday, April 25, the Communications Officer of NDC, Sammy Gyamfi said this development must be worrisome for all Ghanaians.

Mr Gyamfi insisted the desecration of the presidency has not happened in the country before and should not be tolerated. 

The party has thus served notice it will be petitioning the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate the recent allegations against President Akufo-Addo in an Al Jazeera investigative documentary named Gold Mafia. 

“We in the National Democratic Congress are deeply concerned about the damning revelations about our President in this latest documentary by Al Jazeera. 

“The continuous naming of the President and his Vice in all manner of bribe-taking syndicates, must be a cause for concern for every patriotic Ghanaian who cares about the image of the Presidency.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the media, Al Jazeera’s earth-shaking findings also give currency to the justifiable concerns raised about government’s opaque Gold-for-Oil deal which many experts, civil society organisations and the NDC have had legitimate grounds to criticise and demand transparency and accountability.

“Never in the history of our country has the Presidency been reduced to a criminal Mafia as we are witnessing today,” he said. 

What was said about President Akufo-Addo in the documentary?

A gold trader exposed in Al Jazeera’s Gold Mafia investigative documentary has alleged that President Akufo-Addo is his friend and lawyer.

Al Jazeera’s latest investigation, Gold Mafia, has uncovered a band of criminals driving gold smuggling and money laundering worth billions of dollars in Southern Africa.

However, those involved in this gold smuggling syndicate have business networks that stretch across the continent and operate in many other countries including Ghana.

Alistair Mathias, described by the investigative reporters as a financial architect who builds money laundering schemes for corrupt politicians, was approached by undercover journalists posing as Chinese criminals to help them launder money from China.

Speaking to the undercover reporters while trying to strike a deal, he alleged that President Akufo-Addo is his friend and was his lawyer too.

Alistair had earlier revealed that he has been smuggling $40 million worth of gold from Ghana monthly, which is $480 million worth of gold annually.

“Ghana’s president is a good friend of mine. In fact, he was my lawyer,” Mathias was recorded saying.