DRIP equipment distribution records missing in several areas – Parliament

Parliament has raised the alarm over the disappearance of public equipment supplied to assemblies under the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), after four concrete mixers valued at more than GH¢800,000 went missing from the Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly.

The Local Government and Rural Development Committee says the losses expose serious accountability gaps in the management of public assets, with the absence of proper documentation and insurance making it difficult to trace stolen equipment and recover taxpayers’ money.

The revelation emerged during a two-week public hearing involving several assemblies, with four reportedly confirming cases of stolen DRIP equipment.

The Sagnarigu Municipal Coordinating Director, Mahmoud M Osman, told the committee that four concrete mixers, each valued at more than GH¢200,000, were stolen from the Urban Roads Department yard following violence that erupted after the 2024 general election.

He said the equipment was taken from the premises, located close to the police headquarters, and that although the assembly reported the incident to the police, it was yet to receive a report establishing their whereabouts.

Osman attributed the difficulty in tracing the machines to the absence of accompanying documentation when they were supplied to the assembly through the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF).

The disclosure angered committee members, particularly its Chairperson, Queenstar Pokua Sawyerr, who questioned how such expensive public assets could disappear without proper records to establish ownership and facilitate recovery.

“Now, there is no documentation for the DRIP machines in the whole of Ghana, and so if somebody steals them, what happens to the assembly?” she queried.

She suggested that the equipment might have been distributed hurriedly to assemblies for political campaign purposes without the necessary documentation.

“This is where politics comes in because those machines were brought hurriedly for campaign sake and they did not bring documents,” she said.

Sawyerr described the situation as a waste of huge public investment and assured that the committee would compile a list of assemblies that had reported missing equipment and consider measures to prevent further losses.

Deputy Ranking Member of the committee, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, called for a comprehensive audit of all DRIP equipment supplied to assemblies to establish their current status and insurance coverage.

He also urged the committee to ensure that every component of the equipment was adequately insured, recommending the involvement of the DACF in addressing the gaps.

The Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency, Conrad Dumbah, identified the lack of proper documentation as a major risk undermining the assemblies’ ability to trace missing equipment.

He urged assemblies to work with the DACF and equipment suppliers to retrieve original records, including vehicle identification numbers (VINs), to establish a centralised documentation system.

The committee has warned that the absence of basic asset records and insurance arrangements leaves significant public investments vulnerable to theft, financial losses and weak accountability.