Prez Mahama Charges: Refund GIPC's GH�4,000...Board Should Meet Over Matter

President John Dramani Mahama has directed that a group of campaigners referred to as "Volunteers for Mahama", canvassing support for him, who solicited for and were given funds for their work through the Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr. George Aboagye, refund any monies they may have received within 24 hours. The President, who dissociated himself from their actions, has also directed that the Governing Board of the GIPC convenes an emergency meeting on Tuesday, 27th of November 2011, to investigate the claims. Two separate statements signed by the Communications Director of the John Mahama Campaign team, Hanna Tetteh said �while we do appreciate the support given by groups such as Volunteers for Mahama, we do not subscribe to their request for funding support from Government Agencies.� The statement indicated that the president has further instructed that the Board to provide him with their report on the matter by close of business on Tuesday in order that he can take a decision on the subject. Below are the two statements issued by the John Mahama 2012 Campaign Team on behalf of the president. PRESS STATEMENT FROM THE JOHN MAHAMA 2012 CAMPAIGN REGARDING SOLICITATION OF FUNDS BY VOLUNTEERS FOR MAHAMA The John Mahama 2012 Campaign wishes to disassociate itself from the recent actions of a group of campaigners referred to as Volunteers for Mahama who have been canvassing for support for the John Mahama 2012 Campaign. While we do appreciate the support given by groups such as Volunteers for Mahama, we do not subscribe to their request for funding support from Government Agencies. We therefore wish to request the Group to refund any money�s that they may have received from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre at once, and certainly within 24 hours. We further would like to bring to the attention of all sympathizers, campaigners and affiliates of the NDC that soliciting funds from State Organizations is unacceptable, unethical and we believe not to be in line with the tenets of the Political Parties Act (Act 574). In the circumstances we are instructing all our sympathisers and affiliate organizatons not to solicit funds from any state agencies or entities that do not conform to the provisions on party financing in this Act. We take a very serious view of this conduct and consider it to be unacceptable and we advise all those who are working for the success of our campaign in the 2012 election to take note of this directive. We encourage all our sympathizers and loyalists to work hard for the success of the party in the 2012 election, in order that the Party achieves resounding success in the upcomming elections which are not much more than a week away. Let us continue to demonstrate to the People of Ghana our commitment to be working for them. Hanna S. Tetteh Communications Director John Mahama 2012 Campaign 26th November 2012.