Bright Kodzo Demordzi, former Member of Parliament for Bortianor Ngleshie Amanfrom, has rejected reports that he is holding on to a grader belonging to the Ga South municipal assembly, which was leased to the assembly for road works in the area.

The lawmaker has been accused by some people within the constituency of secretly changing the number plate of the equipment in order to own it.

But in a response on Accra News Monday, 17 January, Mr Demordzi, who lost his seat in the December 2016 polls, denied any wrongdoing.

According to him, following complaints from constituents about the poor nature of the roads in the area when he was MP, he petitioned the ministry in October 2016 to assist his constituency in that regard, to which the ministry subsequently contracted a company that deals in earthmoving equipment to provide a grader for that purpose. He explained that the company provided the operator of the equipment and catered for his monthly salary while he paid for the fuel for the grader’s operations.

Mr Demordzi said he received a call some three weeks ago, days after his defeat at the polls, by the operator that time was up for the equipment to be returned to the leasing company. However, he explained that the lease agreement spelled out that all mechanic faults developed during the use of the grader should be fixed before the equipment is returned, but being cash-strapped at the time he asked that the repair works be stalled until he had enough funds for that purpose, hence the delay in returning the equipment to the company.

The operator of the grader, Mr Demordzi continued, later contacted him that he had put out the equipment for hire without his permission, a move he disagreed with as he had no authority to sanction that, and directed the operator of the equipment to contact the company for its approval, only to hear that the equipment had gone missing after he had allegedly changed the number plate of the equipment to make it his personal property.

“Can number plates be changed just like that? The thing is not mine so how do I do that?” the ex-MP wondered.

Mr Demordzi accused the operator of acting dishonestly in the matter, saying the man was best placed to answer for the equipment’s whereabouts.

“I didn’t employ him; the company did. He knows where he brought the equipment from. So how could I, who do not own the excavator, claim ownership of the equipment…? He has his own agenda for using the excavator for another purpose I know nothing about,” he said of the driver.