Nana Asare Bediako
The sale of a tractor and vehicles, including Hard Body and Navara Nissan pickups, belonging to the Atwima-Nwabiagya District Assembly in the Ashanti Region at allegedly low prices, has become topical in Kumasi, the regional capital.
With each of the pickups allegedly sold at GH?1,500, the automobile auction that was held recently by the assembly has sparked suspicion after a disclosure by the Presiding Member, Isaac Ohemeng Prempeh that the decision was taken on the blind side of the assembly members.
The immediate-past Atwima-Nwabiagya District Chief Executive (DCE), Nana Asare Bediako, who has purportedly been caught up in the vehicle auction row, was said to have bought the only tractor of the assembly for GH?3,500.
In an interview with Hello Fm in Kumasi yesterday, the former DCE, who admitted that the said tractor was parked at his private residence, denied any involvement in the deal, except to say that the tractor was purchased by a Ghanaian farmer at the cost of GH?7,500.
According to Nana Asare Bediako, the farmer, after buying it, sent the vehicle to his house for safe-keeping during the auction sales and had since left the country for Togo.
The former DCE told his host, King Edward, that the tractor was defective at the time of its sale and had been grounded for the past eight years.
“I went to meet it (tractor) there. It had been grounded and not put to use for the past eight years that I was manning the assembly,” he said.
Touching on the pickups, Asare Bediako said a decision was taken to have them disposed of after cost of maintenance began to rise because they were frequently taken to the workshop.
“The cars were too old and were costing the assembly so much to maintain them. I made alternative arrangement for their replacement,” he stressed and added that the auction went through the due process.
But the Presiding Member (PM), Isaac Ohemeng Prempeh, who was oblivious of the perceived under-pricing of the automobiles, has pledged to investigate the auction of the vehicles.
According to him, the assembly did not take any decision to dispose of the vehicles, and that he only became aware of the decision a few hours to the public sale.
He wondered why such pickups could be sold at the time the revenue department of the assembly critically needs a vehicle to enhance its operational duties.
Meanwhile, a brand new Toyota Hilux donated to the assembly by the Ghana Water Company Limited remains at a workshop, gathering dust after it was involved in an accident.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi