A former Deputy Chief of Staff under erstwhile President John Mahama has accused the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) of scheming to use the issue of alleged missing vehicles to demonise former government officials.
Johnny Osei Kofi in a statement Thursday said the claim that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s movement has been negatively impacted because of some unreturned vehicles is “baseless and without merit.”
The NPP government has been tracking down more than 200 cars it said have been missing from the pool of cars at the Presidency.
Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin in an interview with some media houses said the President has been left with a BMW vehicle which was purchased in 2007 to use.
He said the situation has compelled the President to resort to the use of “his own Land Cruiser.”
But Osei Kofi maintained that the Akufo-Addo led government is just engaging in “cheap politics” to paint the erstwhile Mahama government black.
Below is the full statement
200 STATE VEHICLES NOT MISSING
I am constrained to correct yet another distortion about the whereabouts of vehicles belonging to the Presidency. On Wednesday, Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications at the Flagstaff House, in a widely circulated interview, claimed that 200 vehicles in the pool at the presidency were missing.
He also claimed that the supposed disappearance of these vehicles has created an acute shortage compelling President Akufo Addo to resort to the use of 2007 model BMW vehicles and in some instances his own cross-country vehicle for official duties.
The claims of Eugene Arhin are false, baseless without merit. They represent a continuation of the distortions and bad faith that have characterised the conduct of the NPP side of the Transition team.
As part of the transition process, both the Assets and Logistics Committee on the NPP side were given a detailed list of all vehicles in the pool at the Presidency.
More importantly, a total of 641 vehicles were listed and properly accounted for. This was duly captured in the handing over notes. The breakdown of the vehicles are indicated in the table below;
NO. VEHICLE TYPE
NUMBER OF VEHICLES
1 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER V8
142
2 TOYOTA HILUX
8
3 TOYOTA HIACE
3
4 TOYOTA AVALON
33
5 TOYOTA FORTUNER
2
6 TOYOTA COROLLA
58
7 TOYOTA AVENSIS
55
8 TOYOTA CAMRY
75
9 TOYOTA HYUNDAI i10
52
10 NISSAN TEANA
5
11 MAHINDRA 4
12 TOYOTA PRADO
54
13 NISSAN PATROL
7
14 NISSAN NAVARA
6
15 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER (LX)
24
16 HONDA MOTOR BYKES
4
17 NISSAN SENTRA
17
18 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
7
19 NISSAN SUNNY
4
20 HYUNDAI ACCENT
8
21 FORD/PASSAT 6
22 CHRYSLER 15
23 MERCEDES BENZ 2
24 HYUNDAI 4
25 BMW 12
26 IVECO 10
27 MITSUBISHI PAJERO
2
TOTAL 641
It is befuddling that several weeks after the NPP administration begun this campaign of disinformation and harassment of members of the immediate past government, it has as yet failed to put out an iota of evidence to back these claims.
If the NPP government was sincere about these claims,it would have published a full list of all allegedly missing vehicles and provide specific information on each of them.
I also found astonishing, the claim by Eugene Arhin that President Akufo Addo cannot find decent vehicles to use and has had to rely on 2007 model BMWs for his movements since becoming President.
It must be placed on record that the use of the BMWs and his personal vehicle, if it is true, is not due to the non-availability of presidential vehicles. It is clearly a choice that he made on his own accord.
Among the vehicles handed over to the NPP team were two bulletproof salon cars and two bulletproof cross country vehicles specifically dedicated to the use of the President. Both sets of bulletproof vehicles are relatively new and in good condition for the transportation of the President.
Added to this is a fleet of almost new Mercedes Benz vehicles. Surely if President Akufo Addo can use 10 year old vehicles, he should be able to use vehicles that are relatively new and in good condition.
The attempt therefore by Eugene Arhin to create the impression of scarcity and use same as a pretext to justify the unwarranted falsehood about missing vehicles belonging to the Presidency is disingenuous and unbecoming of a public official whose actions must be guided by integrity and candour.
It is obvious from the foregoing that Eugene Arhin’s intervention is part of a grand scheme by the Akufo Addo/Bawumia government to demonise members of the previous administration for cheap partisan propaganda purposes.
In the interest of transparency and candour, a detailed inventory of all vehicles accounted for during the transition process has been attached to this statement.
The onus now lies squarely on the Akufo Addo/Bawumia government to provide very specific details of the supposedly missing vehicles out of the list provided below.
JOHNNY OSEI KOFI
FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF
Thursday, 9 February, 2017