According to the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel George, about 271 of the vehicles allegedly missing vehicles from the President’s vehicle pool were purchased by some officials of the former government.

[contextly_sidebar id=”70e8awkDHyrYcKHVOZBQTTVCsQSjGfJq”]He made the revelation on Citi FM’s news analysis program, The Big Issue on Saturday.

According to Same George, although he declined to purchase the vehicle allocated to him while serving as a Presidential staffer under the former government, some of his colleagues bought theirs after the vehicles were duly properly valuated by the State Transport Company.

The Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, had earlier this week revealed, that about 208 of the vehicles bequeathed to the new government by the National Democratic Congress government could not be traced.

But the Deputy Chief of Staff under the Mahama administration, Johnny Osei Kofi, in a counter statement described Mr Arhin’s claims as “false, baseless and without merit.”

However, speaking on our news analysis and current affairs programme, The Big Issue, on Saturday morning, the Ningo Prampram legislator said the auctioning was in comformity with standard practice to enable officials of the former administration to purchase the vehicles.

“A number of my colleagues chose to buy their cars. I for personal reasons declined to buy my car and I returned it to the director of logistics at the Office of President. We put out a list of 641 vehicles. We handed over about 370 vehicles to the assets and logistics committee [of the new government] and these vehicles were physically inspected by the assets committee led by lawyer Ayikoi Otu.”

“You’ll see a disparity and it is because 271 salon cars were purchased by staffers who had put in a request to purchase their vehicles which were 2 years and above.”

Sam George’s revelation appear to introduce a different twist of the story as it suggests that the purchased vehicles were also included in the list presented to the new government as vehicles available for its use.

Selling state cars to politicians ‘bush way of doing things’

Meanwhile, a retired Ghanaian diplomat, KB Asante, has said that government officials buying state vehicles they previously used is a “bush way of doing things.” According to him, the vehicles must be properly auctioned to allow interested Ghanaians buy them.

Speaking to Citi News, he questioned the logic behind such direct sales to officials, arguing that the practice will always lead to wanton abuse of state property.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post NDC staffers purchased 271 saloon cars at the presidency – Sam George appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the vehicles must be properly auctioned to allow interested Ghanaians buy them.

[contextly_sidebar id=”FcpMRVeof7ezZ729XdZ8yXec4W5DdOyV”]Speaking to Citi News, he questioned the logic behind such direct sales to officials, arguing that the practice will always lead to wanton abuse of state property.

His comment comes on the back of the recent saga of alleged missing state vehicles from the government pool.

Mr. Asante said, “we should change it [the current practice]. If we continue with this, it is a bush way of doing things. It is not correct. When a minister comes, he is given all the resources he needs to do his work, when he is going he leaves the car because the car is never his property.”

“If a government property is being sold where there is proper auction, auctioneers will value them well before they are auctioned. You don’t say sell this to one individual. Because the public contributed to buy the car so if for some reason it is to be sold, it will be sold openly to the public and not necessarily to the minister.”

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government earlier this week revealed that it could not locate some 208 state vehicles it was to inherit from the erstwhile NDC government.

The development raised suspicion that some officials of the previous governments were illegally keeping the vehicles or had bought them at extremely low prices.

But the previous government has insisted that it duly accounted for all the cars in the state pool, and therefore cannot be held responsible if any of them cannot be found.

The statement signed by the immediate past Deputy Chief of Staff, Johnny Osei Kofi, described the new government’s claims as “false, baseless and without merit.”

It said, the “distortions and bad faith that have characterized the conduct of the NPP side of the Transition team.”

It further explained that “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.” It also called on the government to provide further evidence to back its claims of lost vehicles.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Selling state cars to politicians ‘bush way of doing things’ – KB Asante appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Upper East Regional director of health services, Dr. Kofi Issah, had bemoaned circumstances leading to an disappearance five vehicles when he took over from his predecessor Dr. Kuko Awoonor Williams, and had reported the matter to the Director General of Ghana Health Services, Dr. Ebernizer Denyira-Appiah and the Upper East Regional Minister, Albert Abongo for necessary action.

But in a press statement, the Upper East Regional branch of BONABOTO, accused the Director General of Ghana health services of condoning with Dr. Awoonor  and providing lame excuses that the vehicles were re-assigned.

They have given the director general of the Ghana health services two weeks to ensure the return of the five vehicles or incur their wrath.

Below is full Press Statement:

PRESS STATEMENT BY BONABOTO ON THE MISSING GHANA HEALTH SERVICE REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS VEHICLES.

BONABOTO wishes to register its strongest protest and displeasure at the way and manner the authorities of the Ghana Health Service are handling the issue of the five missing vehicles (One Pajero, one VW Passat Saloon Car, One Toyota Land Cruiser and two Pickups) from the Upper East Regional Directorate of the Service. BONABOTO’s information is that the erstwhile Regional Director, Dr. Kouko Awoonor, when he reluctantly left on transfer, took with him five office vehicles belonging to the Upper East Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service.

While BONABOTO appreciates the contribution of Dr. Awoonor to improved health care delivery in the Region during his tenure, we are not only surprised but shocked at this last attempt to dent his own image by this action. BONABOTO, therefore, calls on the Director General, in particular, and the Government, in general, to as a matter of urgency and in the interest of justice and fairness to the people of the Upper East Region, ensure the immediate return of the vehicles to the region.

BONABOTO’s attention was drawn to this issue somewhere in April this year and as normal of our procedure, the Association sought to confirm the veracity or otherwise of the information from the Regional Directorate which confirmed it. At the time, the current Regional Director explained that he had initiated the administrative complaints procedure to establish the whereabouts of the missing vehicles and edged BONABOTO to exercise restraint while he followed due process on the issue.

Having felt that the due process was taking a rather long time, BONABOTO in May, this year, made an official complaint to the BNI to help investigate and possibly ensure the return of the said “lost” five vehicles to the Region. As at today, we have not heard anything from the BNI. Furthermore, the Regional Director, in his yearly review meeting, reiterated his frustrations in trying to retrieve the vehicles.

We are saddened by the fact that, the Director General, instead of taking steps to ensure the return of the vehicles, appears to be rather condoning with the erstwhile Regional Director and helping to deprive the Upper East Regional Directorate of the vehicles by providing the lame excuse that the vehicles have been re-assigned to two other regions while retaining some in Accra for Dr. Awoonor’s use. We wish to emphasize that there is no documentation or justification for this so-called reassignment.

We find it extremely strange and defying ordinary logic that the Director General of GHS, will order as he claims, the movement of two of the vehicles to Accra for Dr. Awoonor’s official use when the incumbent Regional Director has no vehicle for his official duties in the region. Again, we cannot logically reconcile how the two pickups  and the Pajaro were sent to the Northern and Volta regions when three districts in the Upper East Region (Bulsa North, Bulsa South Garu and Bawku West districts) have no vehicle for effective and efficient health delivery.

BONABOTO demands answers for the following questions:

1. Has the Director General, all of a sudden, found that the Upper East Region does not need the vehicles when it needed while Dr. Awoonor was the Regional Director?
2. What has happened to the vehicles that were being used by Dr. Awoonor’s predecessor in Accra, requiring he takes those from the Upper East Region?
3. How did the vehicles leave the region without proper documentation?
4. Has the Director General suddenly ignored the approved public service guidelines on assets management?
5. Is it rational to move vehicles from a region that is grappling with high maternal mortality, inadequate doctors, insufficient supply of medical, operational and administrative logistics including vehicles to other regions?
6. How does the director General expect the Regional Health directorate to ensure efficient and effective health delivery without these vehicles?
7. How do the KOICA project and its vehicle support adequately answer the illegal movement of the vehicles including those from the GEHIP project from the region?

BONABOTO is concerned that  the Director General of Ghana Health Service, in particular, and the Service in general, are trying to cripple the already wobbling health delivery system in the Upper East Region by trying fruitlessly to cover up for this illegality.

We call on the Government and the Director General to ensure that all the five vehicles return to the Region within two weeks, otherwise we will advise ourselves.

Mr. Francis Atintono, Regional Chairman UE

Mr. Stanley Akamiri Abopaam, UE Regional PRO

Mr. Vitus Azeem, National President

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By: Frederick Awuni/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Retrieve ‘missing’ cars in 2 weeks – Group warns Health Director appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.