JOHN MAHAMA NEVER PROMISED ME LAND – Anane Boateng

Mr Anane Boateng, a Ghanaian businessman has described Abronye’s allegation that the former President Mr John Mahama promised him land, as mere assumptions and baseless.

He said, he is a businessman not a politicians so should not be dragged into issues meant for the purposes of cheap propaganda and character assassination. Speaking on Oman FM, Abronye accused two former appointees of the Mahama administration Sampson Ahi and Baba Jamah of defrauding Mr Boateng of an amount of over $200,000 with the promise of securing him a parcel of land in Accra. According to the Npp communicator, the victim petitioned the former President who promised will ensure he gets the land to compensate for the monies paid to the two appointees.

Mr Anane Boateng this morning on a number of radio stations in Accra, described the allegation as baseless. He said, he gave $100,000 to Baba Jamah to help him secure a parcel of land around Airport. He was was told by Baba Jamah that the person who could facilitate the deal was Sampson Ahi. He added added extra $100,000 to be given to Sampson Ahi but for months, did not get the response expected from the Minister. He became suspicious so decided to meet the minister himself. A meeting was arraigned between him, Mr Ahi and Baba Jamal where it was revealed that Sampson Ahi had not received any money and wasn’t even aware of the proposal. He said, Mr Ahi stated emphatically that his office cannot facilitate the deal because of a directive issued to the ministry and other auxiliary agencies by the President himself [Mr Mahama] that state lands should not be sold to private persons and appointees. He said, he had earlier paid $100,000 to the Chief Executive at the ministry and his deputy upon Baba Jamah’s advice but after his encounter with Sampson Ahi, he decided to retrieve all monies paid hence the petition he forwarded to the former President’s office. He said, he never met the President on the issue and he [President Mahama] never promised him any land as alleged by Abronye.

Narrating his side of the story, Baba Jamal said, the amount mentioned $100,000 was not meant for what Mr Boateng claimed rather, was given to him by Mr Boateng to support his 2016 campaign and was given to him months before the land issue came up. He said, Boateng requested to know the amount he Baba would need for his campaign and a budget of 450,000 Ghc was presented to him. He said apart from the $100,000, Mr Boateng gave him 50,000 ghc and another 20,000 ghc but were not given to him on condition that he will help him secure the said land

But responding to Baba’s claims, Mr Boateng furiously described them as false and threatened to storm Baba’s office to collect all the monies paid to him.

On Sampson Ahi’s involvement, Mr Boateng said, in his petition to the former President and the latest one to Madam Frema, he never mentioned Mr Ahi’s name and for personal reasons, did not even mention Baba’s name. He focused on the Chief Executive and his deputy and he took that position because after his encounter with Mr Ahi, it was revealed that he had no knowledge about the deal and had not received a penny. But responding to the allegation, Mr Ahi first threatened to sue Abronye and all the media platforms he used to propagate the falsehood to end the phenomenon of character assassination. Mr Ahi said, how could he have acted against a directive issued to his outfit by the President who appointed him never to sell state lands to appointees and private persons. He said he made it categorically clear to Mr Boateng in the presence of Baba Jamal that his office cannot help him secure the land he had requested to buy and never met him again.