President Mahama’s authorisation to purchase a fleet of 43 armoured cars eight days to his government’s demise has been criticised as corrupt.
Law lecturer Yaw Oppong says government officials may have ordered a new presidential fleet just to take home the existing fleet of cars as they exited power January 7.
This constitutes rent-seeking, he said on Joy FM/Joy News Saturday news analysis show Newsfile.
The B6 armoured vehicles are capable of firing rounds of ammunition and are designed to withstand the effects of a hand grenade.
Questions have been raised about the motive behind the NDC government order for the specialised vehicles a few days to handing over.
For Yaw Oppong it could be that government was trying to create a commercial opportunity to thank favourites with contracts and profit.
“It is a very nice way of glorifying corruption because it is always difficult to identify the corruption in it” he said.
Yaw Oppong questioned the need for a fleet in view of a competition for scarce resources. He said for a country struggling to pa public workers “I can’t see the necessity for these cars”.
Joining Yaw Oppong’s line of questioning, veteran journalist Kweku Baako Jnr called on government to provide further information surrounding the deal.
Was the deal captured in the handing over reports of the Transition team?, was procurement laws infringed? or was it some ‘attempt to give somebody business just to make some profit?” he wanted to know.
The cars are yet to arrive in the country. They are packed in Dubai.
The Akufo-Addo government has placed a moratorium on the purchase of new government vehicles. But Kweku Baako says these cars are not affected by the ban because they were ordered before the austerity measure was put in place.
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