First Lady not funding NGO with public funds – Aide

The First Lady, Lordina Mahama, has denied that the activities of her NGO are being sponsored with funds from the state.

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), during a press conference addressed by acting General Secretary John Boadu on Wednesday August 17, had questioned the source of the numerous donations the Lordina Mahama Foundation was making across the country.

He said: “Mrs Lordina Mahama has assumed a special role in the 2016 NDC campaign. She is effectively the Chief Director of Gifts. The wife of the president of the republic is going around the country, with a fleet of trucks loaded with goodies, which she is sharing for votes. These run into millions of dollars. Ghanaians deserve to know. How much is being spent? Who is paying for it? Where is the money coming from? Is it from our taxes or from friends? Which friends? Are they friends who are also capable of winning contracts to build walls and roads? The First Lady must be transparent and accountable.”

But reacting to the comments by the NPP on Accra News the same day, Mrs Mahama’s aide, Edward Tapsoba, said the allegations by the leading opposition party signalled its lack of message as it heads for another inevitable defeat at the polls.

He said the issue raised by the NPP was a “concocted story”, questioning why the same party had found no qualms with the several donations made to former First Lady Theresa Kufuor by benevolent bodies for distribution to health facilities, among others during the administration of Mr John Kufuor.

Mr Tapsoba said Mrs Mahama, in the same vein, was using her NGO, to receive donations from abroad and elsewhere to support the work of her “competent” husband.

“Lordina [Mahama] has not taken any money from government, neither has government allocated any budget for such donations. It is the hard work of her NGO and her honesty that brings in the donations,” he stated.

“In short, the NPP can continue to hold press conferences accusing Lordina of this and that, she won’t be bothered. …It will not change Lordina’s position.”