Former Member of Parliament for Ablekuma Central in the Greater Accra Region, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie is cautioning government appointees to be mindful of the use of state vehicles.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) member said the number of vehicles use by state officials are fueled by the state and as such it is the nation that incurs the cost of doing that.
The former MP was contributing to a discussion on TV3 New Day on a suggestion by a former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof Stephen Adei, that the Vice President’s convoy is too “long”.
Prof Adei says he would not shy away from embarking on a one-man demonstration over the convoy of the Vice President if it stays same as the one he saw the last time in Cape Coast, putting the figure at 16.
But the Office of the Vice President disputed the number, saying “the Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia uses a maximum of seven cars on trips outside Accra and not 16. The 7 vehicles include a leading police vehicle, security detail, Protocol, the media team and an ambulance”.
Nonetheless, Mr. Tetteh Chaie intimated the vehicles of those mentioned are fueled by the state as well as enlarging the convoy of the Vice President, causing discomfort to other motorists.
“What is the cost of moving a whole convey from Accra to Cape Coast to present a school bus. This thing could have been done by a director of education,” he noted.
He said “were those vehicles not state vehicles? Ones they have admitted that at a point ministers, deputies, police, join the convoy, all these were drawing fuel from the state”.
The former MP said “what we need to do is curtail the number of vehicles and the cost to the nation because definitely, what the person sees is what he will report so it’s a concern that we need to accept and move on”.
By Kweku Antwi-Otoo|TV3|3news.com|Ghana