Almost six million dollars is being spent on 50 BMWs, 50 Mercedes Benz, 50 Chryslers, 50 Peugeot saloon cars, 30 Jaguars and 25 buses to convey visitors to and from various destinations during the 50th anniversary.
But the car rentals association says it could have met government’s need for top of the range luxury vehicles for the visiting dignitaries for a fraction of what it costs to buy them outright. They pegged the figure they would have charged at less than 250,000 dollars for 200 cars for one week.
The Minority side in Parliament and a section of the public has argued that the amount mentioned to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance by the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chief of Staff as earmarked for the vehicles was too high. But the Presidential spokesperson Andrew Awuni told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show that it was necessary to purchase the cars.
The Chief of Staff Kojo Mpiani who is also the Chairman of the National Planning Committee for the Ghana at 50 cited security as one of the reasons for deciding to purchase the cars.
The President of the association, David Nana Anim, told Joy News this is not the first they would be offering such services and that security and compatibility in the face of the high profile of the visitors would not have been a problem.
He said even if the association was to marshal only a 100 out of the 200 luxury standard vehicles the government required, it could have made available brand new cars if the organisers had considered the proposal they had put forward.
He says nonetheless, the Association has readied itself to assist with their services should they be approached by government or any other body.
Already, the Zimbabwean delegation is requesting for 11 vehicles which poses the question as to whether they would not be getting as many vehicles as they would require from the government fleet?
Source: GhanaWeb
