Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo bans purchase of new vehicles for gov't appointees

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo has declared there will be no new vehicles for members of his government, state-run The Ghanaian Times reported here Tuesday.

"No matter how dilapidated the vehicles in our fleet, we are going to have to make do with them. These are difficult times for the Ghanaian people and we should be seen to be acting and respecting that," he admonished his ministers and other appointees at the close of a three-day retreat in the national capital.

According to the Executive Asset Sub-committee of the Transitional Team, more than 200 vehicles used by officials of the John Mahama-led administration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) went missing shortly after losing power to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December 2016 general election.

Akufo-Addo's ban may have been informed by the controversy of the missing vehicles, as the former government officials refuted the allegation but claimed they purchased some of them in line with existing government policy.

The Transitional Team said some of the government ministers in the previous government did not return their official vehicles on leaving office.

The issue of missing vehicles resulted in forcible seizure of vehicles and other property from some NDC party or government officials. Endit