Posted
on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Monday,
August 21, 2017
Chairperson of the
Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei, is under intense pressure to explain
how her outfit was able to auction about 40 vehicles without proper
documentation.
The demand for
explanation has come from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament. It
wants the EC to provide further and better particulars of all the vehicles auctioned,
which Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, immediate past chairman of the commission, grabbed
a 2008 model Nissan Urvan mini bus for a paltry GH¢2,675.
Interestingly, the
Auditor General’s Report of 2015 had captured the EC auctions, which were done
in 2013 in the heat of the landmark Presidential Election Petition - when Dr.
Afari-Gyan was being grilled by the Supreme Court on the 2012 presidential
election results.
Ridiculous Prices
It is turning out
that Mrs Charlotte Osei, who is herself facing preliminary investigations over
alleged abuse of office and corruption, does not even know the name(s) of the
auctioneer(s) involved in the transaction that generated the ridiculous prices.
There are issues,
including whether the whole exercise was open to the public or it was
restricted to the commission’s staff alone; and whether it was advertised in
the newspapers for prospective applicants to take notice of.
Defending the
process, Mrs Osei said the vehicles were more than four years and had lost
their values and so ideally, they would have been valued at zero percent.
Name Of Auctioneer
When asked about the
name of the auctioneer engaged to dispose of the vehicles last week in
parliament, Mrs. Charlotte Osei told the PAC, chaired by James Klutse Avedzi -
MP for Ketu North - that “I don’t have that information here.”
Accompanied by Amadu
Sulley, a Deputy EC Chairman in-charge of Operations, the chairperson said,
“There were 40 vehicles which were disposed of in the year 2013. Those vehicles
were acquired, most of them in the year 2007, 2006, 2000 and some in 2003.
“When we disposed of
them through the auction, a total amount of about GH¢83,000 was realized. We
have made copies of the documentation relating to that available as well.
“We have also given
details of each vehicle - the year of purchase, the registration number, the
year of disposal and the amount realized from the auction.”
The PAC chairman
asked Mrs Osei - who could not provide the names of the auctioneers, the date
on which the auction was done as well as the official advertisement announcing
the intended auction - to supply those pieces of information to the committee
to help in its work.
Initial Decision
It turned out at the
PAC sitting that Dr. Afari-Gyan and other employees of the commission were
among a group of 40 people who benefitted from the auction of vehicles at very
ridiculous prices.
The auction was done
after a decision had been taken by the management, headed by Dr. Afari-Gyan, to
auction them so that some employees could make the purchase to motivate them.
The lowest price was
GH¢749 and the highest being GH¢3,745.
A 2007 double-cabin
Nissan pick-up with registration number GV 48 Y, was sold to one Saeed Mohammed
at GH¢749.
The highest-valued
auctioned vehicles were sold to two individuals - George Boison and Modestar
Asungunah - at GH¢3,745 each.
The vehicles were
two Peugeot Boxer mini buses manufactured in 2007 and were each bought at
GH¢96,015 by the EC.
Two others -
Augustine Okrah and Dongyile Guri - purchased double-cabin Nissan pick-ups at
GH¢1,070 each; but the original price was GH¢18,683 each.
Christiana Bosompem also
purchased one at GH¢2,000 and later topped it up with GH¢140. The EC officials
did not disclose, which vehicle it was.
A member of the PAC,
Ras Mubarak - MP for Kumbungu - wanted
to know whether Saeed Mohammed, who bought the Nissan pick-up, was an employee
of the commission, but Madam Osei could not supply the answer, saying unless
she verified from the commission’s records.
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