3 former appointees respond to ultimatum

Page 3
May 1, 2009

THREE former government appointees in the Kufuor administration have responded to the government’s ultimatum to them to return state vehicles in their possession.
They are Mr Andrew Awuni, Press Secretary to former President J.A. Kufuor, Alhaji Abubakar Siddique Boniface, former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, and the former Upper West Regional Minister, Mr George Hikah-Benson.
Mr Awuni, whose name was not on the list of ex-appointees named at a press conference on Wednesday, returned a Toyota Avensis vehicle in his possession yesterday, while Mr Saddique returned his Peugeot 607 vehicle. Mr Hikah-Benson, for his part, had discussions with the government indicating that he would return his car at a later date.
A Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic yesterday.
He commended Messrs Awuni and Saddique for responding to the government’s call and appealed to other former appointees who fell in the same category to endeavour to do the same.
“We encourage their other colleagues who are yet to respond to our call to emulate their example,” he said.
Mr Okudzeto-Ablakwa said if Mr Awuni, whose name was not on the list, had returned his car, then “it means that the list with ex-appointees with state vehicles might not be exhaustive”.
He said about 52 people in the former administration who applied to buy their vehicles still had them in their possession, even though they had not been given permission to do so before they left office.
He said the cars were needed, since some ministers and deputy ministers in the current administration were yet to be given official vehicles.
The government, on Wednesday, gave former government appointees who served under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration up to the end of this week to return state vehicles in their possession that were less than two years old.
It said all other appointees who paid less than the value of the vehicles were also to top up their payments before they could legally take possession of them.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, who gave the directives at a press conference in Accra, said more than 50 of such vehicles, including 18 which were less than two years, were still in the possession of former appointees under the Kufuor government.
He said the government had made several approaches to the affected appointees but only a few of them had responded, adding that the Presidency, as part of its cost-cutting measures, was not in the mood to buy new vehicles, making some ministers and deputy ministers to use their personal vehicles.