50 vehicles left to rot

At a time when vehicles have become essential commodities in the country, 50 cars in good conditions have been sitting idle at the car park of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Services regional office at Koforidua for the past five years.

An official at the regional office intimated that all the vehicles had been gazetted for auctioning but "instructions from the head office in Accra have put the exercise on hold all these years".

He said the vehicles were impounded for various offences by their importers, including evasion of custom duties, abuse of ECOWAS protocol and fake registration number plates.

Asked why the regional office had not taken the initiative to dispose of them, the official said, "The power of authority to auction is vested in our authorities in Accra," adding that they were still awaiting the official authorization.

At the CEPS head office in Accra, the Deputy Operations Director, Mr Amponsah said that they were unaware of the development at the Eastern Regional office.

He said that a contact would be made with the Koforidua office to ascertain the facts before they could make any contact.