Central Regional Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs has advised that current government to auction the controversial 43 vehicles if it feels it has no need for them.
According to him, the previous government saw the need for the vehicles including 9 armored vehicles to be among the presidential pool prior to leaving office since government is a continuous process wondering what has gone wrong fundamentally in their acquisition.
He also shot down claims that the purchase of the customized vehicles were also in bad faith when the government of the day at the time knew it was exiting power.
“If government knows it does not like the vehicles, it should auction them. I am sure there are people in Ghana who are willing to buy such vehicles for personal use. For now we do not know who is telling the truth and who is lying but I am sure they had discussions behind the scenes before approval was given for the purchase of these vehicles”, he disclosed on Adom TV’s Badwam on Wednesday.
Mr Allotey Jacobs believes finality to this matter will come if the current Chief of Staff makes her findings on the matter public until then he stands by the assertion that there were agreements between the outgoing and incoming governments before the purchase.
It would be recalled that the previous NDC government ordered the supply of 43 specialised vehicles worth more than $9m barely eight days to the handing over of power.
The customized cars are capable of firing rounds of ammunition and are designed to withstand the effects of a hand grenade.
All four sides of the passenger compartment and the roof of the vehicle are protected using high-quality armour steel and glass defeating NATO ball ammunition, the supplier Shell Specialty Vehicles described the vehicle.
Source: GhanaWeb
