The New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration should not pay for the 43 new vehicles ordered for the presidency if it did not request for them, the Executive Director of Imani Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe has suggested.
A former Presidential staffer in the Mahama administration, Dr. Clement Apaak, had claimed that his government ordered the vehicles a few days before leaving office, upon the request of the incoming Akufo-Addo administration.
[contextly_sidebar id=”TF4RHitYsO9BHT6tzrf8k9zmQQrQhdo3″]But the Akufo-Addo administration subsequently denied these claims, saying it had no hand in placing the request.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Cudjoe said the NPP administration has no business paying for the cars if it did not indeed order them.
“If the current administration is insisting they cannot be blamed for this then they simply should not pay for the cars. In any case the cars are meant for the state but as we are now told, there was no agreement …the current administration did not make any request..”
He also charged the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to offer explanations on “why they should not be saddled with the debt.”
Potential judgment debt
Documents sighted by Citi News revealed that the contract for the new cars for the Presidency was awarded by the Mahama government on the 3rd of January, 2017, to Amalgamated Security Services LTD.
However, the contract is in limbo following the recent moratorium placed on the purchase of new vehicles by President Akufo-Addo.
Checks by Citi News reveal that the said vehicles have already been purchased and are currently in Dubai, and there are fears government could pay a judgement debt if it cancels the contract.
Apaak struggles to prove claims NPP requested for new cars
Meanwhile, the former Presidential staffer, Dr. Clement Apaak has failed to prove his claims that the John Mahama government ordered the new vehicles for the presidency few weeks before leaving office, on the behest of the current government.
Mr. Apaak, the Buila South MP, who first made the claim on Citi FM’s ‘Big Issue’, had promised to provide further evidence to back his claims.
But when he was called back on Eyewitness News on Monday after a Deputy Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah had denied his claims, he failed to back down, and insisted he was right because some sources gave him that information.
Dr. Apaak’s account of events is even more questionable, especially as Citi News has sighted a document which suggests that an approval was given for the purchase of the car by the then Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, even before the formation of the transition team.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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