[ 2017-02-11 ]

Run the state, stop ‘diversionary claim’ – Prof. Gyampo counsels government
Governance expert, Prof Ransford Gyampo, says he
doubts the claim by the government that over 200
vehicles have been stolen from the Presidency’s
fleet of vehicles possibly by members of the
previous government.

He said emerging details from the previous
government and conflicting accounts by some
members of the current government on the matter
cast a doubt on the credibility of the claim that
was made last week by the Director of
Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin.

Mr Gyampo is further alarmed by the signal the
claim sends about the country’s poor record
keeping.

“There are so many imponderable issues to this
claim [of the missing vehicles]...the
contradictory and conflicting things regarding the
number of cars that are [at the Presidency] and
those that are not there is a monumental shame to
us as a nation in terms of our effort to keep
record and take stock of assets that belong to the
State,” he said on Joy FM/Joy News’ Newsfile,
Saturday.

Director of Communications at the Presidency,
Eugene Arhin, told journalists last week that 208
cars missing from the Flagstaff House pool of
vehicles.

The claim, which comes shortly after President
Nana Akufo-Addo set up a task-force to retrieve
state assets unlawfully being held by individuals,
has been contested severely by the previous
government.

A former Deputy Chief of Staff in the previous NDC
government says the current administration is only
scheming to ride on the false claim of the mission
vehicles to paint former officials as corrupt.

Johnny Osei Kofi in a statement Thursday said the
claim by Eugene Arhin is “baseless and without
merit.”

“As part of the transition process, both the
Assets and Logistics Committee on the NPP side
were given a detailed list of all vehicles in the
pool at the Presidency,” he said in the
statement that also said a total of 641 vehicles
have been handed over to new government, complete
with the requisite documents.

Commenting on the matter on Newsfile on Saturday
Prof Gyampo also said even if the claim of the
missing vehicle was true, the current
administration went about wrongly.

“There is a way to go about this: call the
former Chief of Staff [Julius Debrah] and sort
things out with him. To go public and be making
these types of claims is diversionary,” he told
show host Evans Mensah.

He advised the government against dabbling in
propaganda that has the potential of making them
lose focus on its promise for good governance.

“The mandate that has been given to them
[government] is quite huge. The goodwill of the
NPP government is huge and let them not dissipate
this goodwill by focusing on some these minor
issues,” stressed.

If indeed 200 vehicles are missing from the
Presidency then it is a serious matter, he said,
demanding a more serious probe than a public
announcement -- like Mr Arhin has done.

"I doubt it. They [vehicles] may be in the
system," he said.

Disappointing Administrator-General

Prof Gyampo also faulted the office of the
Administrator-General which is mandated by law to
verify assets declared by the outgoing
administration during the transition process.

He said when ex-President John Mahama's
administration declared the cars it was leaving
behind, the prudent thing to do was to ensure that
the list of declared vehicles and the actual
number of vehicles were consistent.

"I am quite disappointed in the
Administrator-General and Ayikoi Otoo [Chairman of
the NPP Transition Team]", Mr Gyampo said.

Source - Myjoyonline.com

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