Cedecom Workers Cry Foul Over Auction of Cars

As a matter of urgency and national interest, concerned workers of the Central Regional Development Commission (CEDECOM) have called on President J.A. Kufour and his NPP government to institute a probe into what they described as an unannounced auction sale of five vehicles belonging to the commission by the new Executive Director of the Commission, Mr. David Foster Forson.

The man, Mr. Forson, was reported to have been imposed on them by the Central Regional Minister, Mr. Isaac Eduasar Edumadze. Aggrieved workers, who wanted anonymity, walked into the office of this paper last weekend to complain that five of the commission's vehicles had been sold under mysterious circumstances at the expense of the state and, therefore, wanted the retrieval of the vehicles.

The vehicles are an Isuzu double cabin with registration number GV 525A, a Mitsubishi pick up double cabin GV 522 A, a Mitusubishi Pajero, No.GV.520A, a Bedford truck, No. GV 519A and Nissan pick-up double cabin No. GV 529 A.

According to the aggrieved workers, under normal circumstances, when vehicles of any institution are to be sold, they is advertised and options given to the employees, adding, "but in this particular case, no advertisement of any kind was made, neither were the employees nor management informed."

They contended that on that day in question, December 2, last year, between 8 and 9am, an auctioneer, whose name your investigative paper got as Mr. Akumi-Sekyi, purported to have been brought down from Accra, arrived at the offices of the commission followed by some three men in a taxi cab.

As soon as the auctioneer arrived at the offices, he rang a bell and announced that there was going to be an auction of some items of the Commission, which they as workers had no knowledge of.

Soon after the auctioneer had made his intentions known, he and the three men who came in a taxi, accompanied by one Mr. Mamadu Arhin, who had been appointed as acting transport officer for the commission, moved to a parked Mitsubishi Pajero in front of the office building and within seconds, the bell was rung for the second time after which one of the three men offered the sum of ?7,020 million as the purchase price for the vehicle without any competition whatsoever.

After that mysterious circumstance under which the Pajero was sold, the auctioneer was reported to have invited the three men to accompany him to the guest house of the commission where four other vehicles were parked and were equally auctioned but the purchase prices and the buyers are still shrouded in secrecy.

After the mysterious circumstance under which the five vehicles were disposed of, Mr. Forson allegedly instructed his driver, Mr. Raymond Nketsiah, who lives in Elmina, to convey two of the auctioned vehicles, which were suspected to have been bought by him ( Forson), to a workshop in Elmina for bodyworks. The said vehicles are: Mitsubishi pick-up (GA522) A and Isuzu double cabin (GV 525A).

Forson, an auditor, was invited by the Central Regional Minister, Mr. Edumadze, as soon as he resumed office, to audit the accounts of the commission after the former ED, Dr. A.E. Asmah, had been shown the exit.

Chronicle can report that the Regional Minister, Mr. Edumadze, a childhood friend of Mr. Forson, who had been out of job for some time, managed to impose (Forson) on the commission even though there are other personnel who are equally capable of holding the office of chief executive.

As a result of the imposition of Mr. Forson on the commission, which did not go down well with so many people in the region, a questioner at the last central regional "People's Assembly" held in Elmina on Monday, January 13, this year, asked why the auditor he (Mr. Edumadze) appointed to audit the accounts of the Central Regional Development Commission (CEDECOM) and paid a colossal amount of ?30million had been imposed on the commission as its chief executive at the expense of the nation.

But neither he the Regional Minister nor any one of the government officials present could give any reasons to justify the imposition of the auditor, who had worked and collected that colossal amount as his fees, continues to remain as the head of the commission.

The concerned workers intimated that since the commission was taken over by Mr. Forson, everything, including some viable projects, is collapsing and, therefore, called on the government to institute a probe into the mysterious auctioning of the five vehicles, as well as other relevant issues in order to return sanity into the operations of the commission.

Chronicle investigations can reveal that the body works on one of the two vehicles at the workshop in Elmina are almost complete and may soon be moved away from the shop to an unknown place for spraying.