Government has justified the formation of the task force set up to retrieve all state assets from former government office indicating that over 200 vehicles cannot be found.
Speaking to TV3, presidential Spokesperson, Eugene Arhin said a recent inventory presented to the current administration indicates that several state vehicles and other assets cannot be found.
He said “when we came into office the transport officer indicated that from the total number of vehicles in the inventory, several cars cannot be accounted for. A total of
- 196 Toyota V8 vehicles were expected – 74 found – 122missing
- 73 Toyota Landcruiser Prado expected – 20 found – 43 missing
- 24 Mercedes Benz – 11 found – 13 missing
- 28 Toyota Avalons – 2 found – 26 missing
- 6 BMW – 2 found – 4 missing
Just these five models account for about 208 vehicles that cannot be found. There are others like pick-ups vehicles etc that we have not even mentions and in total.
Prez. still travels in personal campaign vehicle
The presidential spokesperson further indicated that “the president of the republic currently has only one vehicle at his disposal. That is the BMW which was purchased in 2007 during the Ghana @ 50 celebrations. He drives only that vehicle.
“If he has engagements outside Accra, for example when he went to the Asantehema’s funeral, when he went this weekend to JB Danquah’s wreath laying ceremony, he was driving his own Landcruiser, the vehicle he used during the campaign.”
The task force & it mandate
Over the last few weeks government announced the formation of a task force to retrieve all state assets which are still in the possession of former government officials. The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) raised concerns about the task force indicating that its ‘Rambo style’ of operating should be condemned.
Mr. Arhin said “until the formation of the task force, the vehicles had not been returned. The Chief of Staff deemed it necessary to compose this task force made up of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Police, the DVLA, the BNI and the office of the President to make sure we retrieve these vehicles.
“We’re doing all we can to retrieve them, it was not set up to witch hunt anybody, for what purpose?” he questioned.
By Martin Asiedu-Dartey|3news.com|Ghana
Follow @NewsyMartin