James Agyenim-Boateng, a former Presidential staffer who worked at the office of the then vice president, says his personal car is still in the custody of the national security, after it was seized on Tuesday.
According to Mr. Agyenim-Boateng, even though he explained to the national security personnel who were at his residence that he had returned all official vehicles assigned to him, the personnel insisted on taking away his personal car which he says he bought in 2012.
[contextly_sidebar id=”IvV0oCKPFAf0Okf103TFHyvMcuMBHduO”]The confiscation of his car followed the setting up of a government task-force on February 3, 2017, to retrieve state assets unlawfully being held by individuals.
Government has since claimed that, some 208 cars cannot be accounted for; a claim the previous administration has rejected.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Agyenim-Boateng said “…what the problem is that this State; the government of Ghana has been keeping custody of my personal vehicle since Tuesday. That is the issue in contention.”
“I am not sure at this point there is anybody saying I am keeping state property or I am keeping vehicles assigned to me whilst I was in office. I haven’t been in office since the 7th of January and I haven’t kept any such property.”
Legal action remains an open option for Mr. Agyenim Boateng though he says he didn’t think he was “ready for all the spectacle and everything that comes with that [legal action].”
Mr. Agyenim-Boateng narrated that: “It was Tuesday morning when there was a bang on my gate so I went out to check and it turns out the person was from national security. So I opened and went out and I saw two Toyota land cruisers. I approached the vehicles and it had three soldiers in uniform and a second vehicle which had been parked some meters away.”
“… one of them said that they were from national security and they were looking for missing state vehicles. I said I don’t keep missing vehicles. I don’t keep stolen vehicles… I explained the issue; but it turned out that it didn’t make any sense to them.”
“The vehicles I kept, two of them, were assigned to me in the name of the office of the vice president because you know that is where I operated from. Those were returned to the same office… as I speak, those vehicles have been handed over. I don’t have them in my custody and I don’t think there is a problem with that,” he said.
It would be recalled that, before the task-force was formed, the National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kofi Adams, also had his five vehicles seized from his residence; but were later returned to him.
‘We’ll resist attacks by Task-force on assets recovery’ – NDC
The NDC has condemned the manner in which government is carrying out the exercise, saying it is an endorsement of thuggery.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana