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A former Presidential staffer in the John Mahama administration, Dr. Clement Apaak, has disclosed that his government ordered some 43 new vehicles few days before leaving office upon the request of the incoming Akufo-Addo government.

The Mahama government has been accused of procuring 43 new vehicles for the presidency four days before leaving office at a cost of over nine million dollars.

But speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Dr. Apaak insisted that they did nothing untoward.

“It’s indeed true that the said vehicles were ordered, but the request was made to our side during the transition. So if indeed the vehicles have been procured, I can say on authority that it was part of the request which was made by the incoming government,” he added.

Dr. Apaak, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Builsa South constituency on the ticket of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), further argued that they couldn’t have on their own accord, procure the vehicles for another person’s to use.

He added that, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), would be compelled to release documentary evidence if they feel victimized by the current government because they believe there was “nothing fishy” in the deal.

“ . . What would have been the motivation to place an order for these vehicles for use by the office of the president? I don’t want to mention names but I know that in the coming days if this issue of trying to make sure that governance is a continuum at the request of an incoming government is used to try and tag our government as corrupt, we will have no choice but to provide documentary proof to confirm the fact that this request was made during the transition process by the current government. So there is nothing fishy about it and I think the timing itself should make Ghanaians know that it wasn’t President Mahama who was going to be in office after January 7th so what was the need to procure this kind of vehicles when we were leaving office?”

Dr. Apaak also noted that, the NDC government at the time acceded to the request by the NPP because they felt that the security of the incoming president was very important.

“The security of the president is very important and if a request had been made that those vehicles be procured for use by the incoming government and that was done, I don’t see why we should quibble about it,” he added.

Apaak’s claims untrue

Meanwhile, the NPP MP for the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, Emmanuel Agyarko, who was also on the programme, refuted Dr. Apaak’s claims.

He said “as far as I know, nobody from the current government asked for any vehicle . . . Why would this government ask the previous one to procure vehicles when they were about to take over?”

Vehicles in limbo

Documents sighted by Citi News reveal that, the contract was awarded by the erstwhile government on the 3rd of January, 2017, to Amalgamated Security Services LTD for the purchase of 43 vehicles for the Presidency.

However, the contract is in limbo following a recent moratorium placed on the purchase of new vehicles by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo–Addo.

The President, in March 2017, banned the purchase of new cars until further notice.

Checks by Citi News revealed that the said vehicles have already been purchased and are currently in Dubai.

There are fears government could pay a judgement debt if it cancels the contract.