Cecilia Johnson approved payment just before end of term

The Chronicle reports that barely 72 hours to the end of the Rawlings administration, the then Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mrs. Cecilia Johnson, okayed payment of 166,316 dollars to African Automobile Limited, agents of Mitsubishi vehicles in Ghana, which had earlier received over 14 billion cedis on orders for vehicles it did not deliver.

The amount adds up to over 1.164 billion cedis at the current exchange rate of 7,000 cedis to one dollar. To-date, the automobile company in question is yet to deliver the 100 Galloper Station wagons and 10-sanitation equipment for which it received the separate part-payment amounting to over 14 billion cedis.

According to the paper, Mrs. Johnson signed the letter for the release of the amount on January 4, 2001. The letter, addressed to the former Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), Josiah Ampiah directed that the payment be made as part of an outstanding balance of 1,966,271 dollars (also over 14 billion cedis at the time) with an added 12.5 per cent of Value Added Tax (VAT).

The 12.5 per cent tax on the amount comes up to about 19,957 dollars (about 139 million cedis). The 100 Galloper wagons were ordered for onward distribution to the district assemblies during the tenure of the previous minister, Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi.

The paper however could not independently establish whether the directive for payment was effected but it claims that its sources at the Local Government Ministry and the Auditor-General's Department say it was.

Mrs Johnson however told a radio station in Accra today that she did nothing wrong in approving the amount for a project, which was already ongoing before the end of her term.