A former Deputy Minister for Communication, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, is embarrassing the country in the sight of the international community by the way it is handling the issue of state vehicles handed over to it by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress government.
According to him, the NPP has not been truthful in dealing with the supposed missing state vehicles saga.
Speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News on Friday, [February 10, 2017], Mr Kwakye Ofosu said, the NPP’s desire to rush to the media to make announcements without conducting the needed audit to reconcile documents of the cars, is improper.
“Let us not underestimate the kind of damage that this sort of behaviors does to our country because this news is on the BBC. There are those who may think that they are deriving some political mileage from this, but eventually, it embarrasses Ghana as a whole. It creates the impression that we are not a serious country and we simply cannot get this record-keeping right. And I don’t think it is proper. We don’t have to do this to ourselves,” he said.
The Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, revealed to the media on Wednesday [February 8], that there are so far 208 cars unaccounted for from the Flagstaff House’s vehicle pool, based on the assessment of some car models in the inventory.
His claims suggested that some officials of the immediate past government were in possession of the vehicles, but according to Mr Kwakye Ofosu, the NPP government must consult the relevant authorities at the various ministries, departments, and agencies to get information about the other vehicles it claims are missing.
“The fact that a vehicle belongs to the office of the president does not mean you will find it necessarily at the Flagstaff House; because these vehicles even though they belong to the presidency, are given out for the use of various government officials and agencies.”
“There is appropriate documentation covering all the cars. If any vehicle is taken out, it is well documented; and they have one of the best recording keeping system at the Presidency as far as logistics and vehicles are concerned; so it is very easy to reconcile. What you need to do is to speak to relevant officials who have possession of these documents and information to be able to help you with a broad picture as far as logistics and vehicles of the presidency are concerned.”
Mahama’s Ford gift part of vehicle pool
He added that, the $100,000 Ford vehicle gifted to former President John Mahama by a Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, had been added to the state’s vehicle pool bequeathed to the new government.
“That vehicle is still in the possession of the Presidency. About 370 vehicles were handed over physically to the Ayikoi Otoo-led committee and that vehicle is part of it [vehicle pool],” he said.