It’s official: 234 state cars missing

 

By Maxwell Ofori, Flagstaff House.

A former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Ayiko Otoo, who chaired the Executive Assets sub-committee of the Transition Team, has confirmed that 234 state vehicles are missing.

The issue of missing state vehicles became topical when the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, revealed that over 200 official cars were nowhere to be found at the seat of government, Flagstaff House.

Subsequently, he said, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was compelled to use a 2007 model saloon car within Accra.

Speaking on Neat FM’s morning programme, dubbed Ghana Montie, and hosted by Akwasi Aboagye, Eugene Arhin said the President sometimes used his own private vehicle when going on a long journey outside the capital for official duties.

His exposé sent shivers down the spines of the former members of the Mahama-led government. For instance, a former Deputy Minister of Communications in the NDC administration, Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, had suggested, in a response to Mr Arhin’s comment, that Nii Ayikoi Otoo held the key to unraveling the mystery surrounding the “missing” cars, since he took physical inventory of all the vehicles handed over to the new government.
Mr Kwakye Ofosu had told Accra-based Class FM that Mr Ayikoi Otoo and a gentleman called Elvis Omane Agyei, should be speaking on the matter, since they were taken round to where the vehicles were.
“For instance, I was given a Toyota Avensis, which I used as Deputy Minister of Communications. It came from the Office of the President, but it was given to me through the Transport Officer at the Ministry of Communications, so when I was leaving, I parked it at the Ministry of Communications. If the Office of the President requires it, it will call for it,” he was quoted as saying.
He said some of the vehicles were with the Judicial Service, some with agencies like the Ghana AIDS Commission, which operates under the Office of the President, and others are at the regional coordinating councils.

Meanwhile, the Chairman himself, Mr Ayikoi Otoo, addressing journalists yesterday at the Flagstaff House, said what the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, stated, was right.

According to him, his committee was handed over a list from the Office of Government machinery (previous NDC Government) categorised into VVIP, Protocol and others.

He said, with the first list, they were not sure whether they contained vehicles bought by officials.

It is a practice that when a state car used by a government official for more than two years, it could be purchased by the user.

He continued that a fresh list was given, with the understanding that all those who bought state vehicles had been taken out, adding that the total number came to 707.

Giving the breakdown, he said, “V8 [were] 176, Prado (Toyota) 63 and others (saloon, bus, ambulances etc.) 468.

He added that out of the 707, the committee was able to identify 67 vehicles which were not listed. He indicated that the numbers on the state vehicle registration numbers are operational, “so they are not real.

“What it means is that you can have a car bought in 2017, but will use registration number of 2014. So, what you do is that you check the vehicle, using the chassis number.”

The former AG further noted that out of the 707 vehicles, what the committee saw were V8 -101, Prado -36 and others 269.

“From the 707, the vehicles that we could not find, what we will call missing vehicles, came to 301, and the breakdown will be as follows, V8 -75, Prado -27, others -199.

“Note this point, we were able to identify 67 vehicles not listed. So, if you deduct the 67 from the 301 missing vehicles, we still have 234 vehicles which could not be accounted for. So, the figure that came out from Mr Arhin’s office, that over 200 vehicles were missing, is correct. If they want me as the chair to confirm, I have confirmed, and I am saying that the figure was over 200,” he remarked.

He said that the office of the Chief Director did not give them any assets register to know how the vehicles were bought, and how they were kept, adding that it was only a list that was given to them. “We don’t know how the list was generated,” he noted.

He was hopeful the taskforce would be able to retrieve the rest of the vehicles, while urging that the chassis numbers of the missing cars be given to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, so that anytime someone comes with such cars, they could blow the alarm.

 

 

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  By Maxwell Ofori, Flagstaff House. A former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Ayiko Otoo, who chaired the Executive Assets sub-committee of the Transition Team, has confirmed that 234 state vehicles are missing. The issue of missing state vehicles became topical when the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, revealed […]

The post It’s official: 234 state cars missing appeared first on The Chronicle - Ghana News.

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