Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Kweku Baako Jnr, has dispeled claims that the Ford Explorer gift given to President John Mahama by Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe is missing from the seat of government.
A deputy executive director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Henry Nana Boakye aka Nana B has claimed that his checks indicate that a total of 173 servicable vehicles and 45 unservicable vehicles are parked at the Flagstaff House which is minus the controversial Ford Expedition car.
“Even the Ford Expedition car which President Mahama said he donated to the state cannot be found, contrary to what the previous govrnment told Ghanaians. Somebody must tell us where that particular car is, if it was indeed donated to the state then it must be found and be part of the list of vehicles documented,” he said.
This claim, the veteran journalist speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo Wednesday said is untrue as according to him, the controversial Ford Explorer is among the pool of cars at the presidency.
“It’s at the Flagstaff House. It is there but there’s an interesting thing. The NDC list that they issued by a certain Johnny Osei Kofi, when you go to that list; you won’t see the Ford there. It’s not on the list. I have gone for a copy of also the Administrator General’s list. I have also scanned through, the Ford is not listed. These are problematic areas in terms of record keeping. But incidentally, I have a copy of what the Logistics Officer of the office of the President handed over, interestingly I found it there,” he said.
Kweku Baako further called on government to review the policy which allows State vehicles to be auctioned to government officials.
He expressed worry over the culture where government officials exit office with State vehicles in their possessions because it doesn’t augur well for the country.
“The tendency is to play on the keyboard of people’s emotions. You throw these matters into the street, the masses win. So, perhaps, the government needs to think that in order not to suffer any collateral damage, we should take a second look at this policy.”
He further gave credence to reports that over 200 cars were missing from the Flagstaff House, revealing that the erstwhile Mahama government auctioned 200 vehicles to its officials before ceding power to the current administration.
He stated that, per his investigations, records for these cars are not adequate which makes the sale questionable.
He further recounted that the NDC also took away about 144 cars in 2001 and another trend happened in 2009 after former President John Agyekum Kufour exited government.
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