<<Print>>

The former Minister of Roads and Transport in the NPP administration, Dr. Richard Anane, has staunchly defended the decision to procure Yaxing buses under his tenure, and says �the buses are not of inferior quality� as being portrayed. He also strongly says that Chinese hands were available to offer training to Ghanaian mechanics. According to him, the buses were tropicalized to meet with prevailing climate conditions in Ghana, adding that the �windows and shock absorbers were modified.� He describes as �not strange�, concerns that operational manuals for the buses were not in the English language, and dismissed any attempt to link that with the unusually high break down of the buses. �Ghana is not one of China�s biggest trading countries, so obviously any trade agreement with them will bring up problems of this nature. Just like when Japanese cars were introduced into the country and there were widespread concerns�and Harry Sawyerr facilitated the purchase of some TATA buses into the country, so it is with these Yaxing buses from China. The most significant problem with these buses was that of the clutch,� he said. The Managing Director of the Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT), Mr. Henk Visschers, in an interview on PEACEFM earlier in the day, had maintained that the operations of MMT crippled along the line, owing to Engineering Application Problems including some manufactural defects, such as rampant breakdown of plugs, manual for operating the bus not in the English language and poor air quality in the car. �We had no English Manuals. There was nobody available to give English training to our mechanics, and no English catalogue for the parts� it was somewhere in September last year or March this year, that when the Chinese came down they realized there were some engineering application problems,� he told Kwami Sefa Kayi. But the former Roads and Transport Minister says this assertion is totally incorrect. �From day one that the buses were brought in, the Chinese were present to offer technical assistance and also train Ghanaian mechanics�the request for the buses was made in 2003 and they were brought in 2004 and not 2006,� he stated. The Yaxing buses were delivered from China to the Ministry of Roads and Transport in 2004, to ease the transportation burdens of commuters.