Missing cars saga 'nonsensical' – Senyo Hosi

The controversy surrounding the missing 208 state cars is nonsensical, Senyo Hosi, Chief Executive Officer of the Bulk Oil Distribution Company (BDC), has said.

According to him, the development smacks of lack of commitment on both the outgone government and the current one in building the capacity of state institutions to ensure that some of these bottlenecks are dealt with.

There is currently a back-and-forth between the Akufo-Addo government and the erstwhile Mahama administration concerning the number of state vehicles left at the presidency after the Acting Communication Director at the presidency, Eugene Arhin, revealed that 208 state cars were missing.

The former government subsequently released a statement on Thursday saying it left behind 641 cars and dared the new government to point out the alleged missing ones.

But speaking on TV3 on Saturday February 11, Mr Hosi said: “This is embarrassing but it typifies what all of them have been doing. They do not make sure institutions are strong enough to withstand time and to keep stability on governance.”

“You have a transition committee that didn’t have three days, did not have a run-off, they had a whole month, and, so, nobody should say looking for 641 cars should be anything that should be difficult. Respectfully this is nonsense.”

Meanwhile Administrator General David Yaro has said former Chief of Staff Julius Debrah should be questioned on the whereabouts of those missing vehicles.

According to him, documents covering all state properties including the cars at the seat of government and presented to the transition team were signed by Mr Debrah, therefore, if some of them are missing, he would be the appropriate person to be held liable.

Speaking in an interview with Class News' Joshua Kodzo Mensah on Friday, 10 February, Mr Yaro said: “If there are areas that need clarification, the minister going out is invited to help to go through the clarification and everything before you (new minister) sign and take off. One way of making sure they (cars) are missing is that you had your copy of the handing over notes, did you discover the missing vehicles during the transition? If you did, was it raised with whoever signed? In the case of the office of the president, it was signed off by the Chief of Staff, so, the former Chief of Staff should have been questioned to explain how those vehicles came not to be there,” Mr Yaro explained.

“We are shocked and we feel very bad about this situation because between 2001 and 2009, similar things happened, and, so, the law establishing our office was promulgated to take care of such things to stem the occurrence of such things. So, if they are happening again, it’s so sad. It means our law is not being very effective or we are not respecting the tenets of the law.”