How the Mahama Guinea Fowl Story Came About

In 2014, the administration of National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by former President John Dramani Mahama made the headlines after it was reported that some guinea fowls bought under the Savannah Accelerated Authority (SADA) project had flown to neighbouring Burkina Faso.

This formed one of the major scandals that battered the then NDC administration and put the government in bad shade, subsequently falling out with Ghanaians.

Speaking to the media about it after ten years, Mahama who is seeking a comeback on the ticket of the NDC recalled how the story came about.

According to him, someone visited the location where the project was taking place and inquired from the security man on duty where the guinea fowls were being kept.

He said the security man coined that story which was eventually believed and spread within the media like wildfire.

“Somebody went and asked the Watchman where the Guinea fowls were and he said they had gone to Burkina Faso and would come back in the rainy season and then it took a life of its own. The media went to publish it and up to now there are people who believe it,” he said while addressing the media in Bolgatanga in the Upper East region on August 7, 2024.

The former president noted that concept of the project was not well propagated thereby resulting in the misinformation and subsequently dying off.

Explaining the concept, he said “it was supposed to create an incubator for guinea fowls and so the incubating plant was built and the incubators were out there and they were going to incubate the eggs and raise day-old chicks for distribution to households (100 chicks and a pen) and taught how to raise the fowls. And there were supposed to be a processing plant so that the Guinea Fowls would be bought from the households, processed, packaged and sent to the south for sale.”

He is however, willing to ignite conversations to bring the project back as he believes it will spur development through the creation of jobs.

“That project died but I think it’s a project that we can look at again because people find guinea fowl meat more healthy and if you go to the south it is consumed. I do think that if we are able to increase their production, or would help the income of many people and families… We are prepared to look at it,” he added.