Government officials will no longer be able to purchase their state vehicles during the period of transition to a new government, according to President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Speaking during a rather short press conference at the end of a 4-day retreat for members of his cabinet on Monday, the President was hopeful this development will put an end to the back and forth over state vehicles during future transitions.
“A policy that has worked so far which has run into a lot of problems because of the way it has been abused which is that officials can buy official cars. That policy will no longer work. No official is going to have the opportunity to buy an official car. Nobody is going to have that capacity anymore,” President Akufo-Addo stated.
He also reiterated government’s temporary ban on purchasing new state vehicles, stressing that, “no matter how dilapidated the vehicles in our fleet are, we are going to have to make do with them.
“These are difficult times for the Ghanaian people and we should be seen to be acting and respecting that,” President Akufo-Addo added.
The early days of the Nana Addo administration were noted for a back and forth over the number of vehicles in the Presidential car pool.
271 state cars bought in final days of Mahama administration
The row was sparked with the Presidency revealing that about 208 of the vehicles bequeathed to the new government by the Mahama government could not be traced.
In the heat of the allegation, the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel George, suggested that about 271 of the vehicles allegedly missing vehicles from the Presidency were purchased by some officials of the former government after a valuation from the State Transport Company.
Mr. George noted that, the auctioning of the state cars was in conformity with standard practice to enable officials of the former administration to purchase the vehicles if they were two years or older.
According to him, a number of his colleagues chose to buy their cars, though he declined the same privilege, and this accounted for the disparity.
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