Oteng Adjei saga: Ghana heading for serious trouble – CDD

Executive Director for the Center for Democratic Development (CDD), Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi feels Ghana is heading for disaster as public officials continue to loot state property.

The latest public official to have come under the spotlight is the former energy minister Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei who has been accused by the minority of possessing two state-owned vehicles six months after leaving office.

He has conceded to the minority’s claim, disclosing one of the Lexus vehicles belonging to the energy ministry has been returned Tuesday, February 24, 2015.

Prof Gyimah-Boadi told Joy FM “if this is how we are going to run the country then I’m afraid we’re all finished.”

He said public officials “should understand that they are not entitled to a better living than the people who pay the taxes for their upkeep.

“If those who should instruct us on public morality are not doing that we’re all heading for serious trouble down the line and stop this terrain of ‘I’m entitled to this and entitled to that’”.

A whopping $1,745,159 (Ghc5,584,508) at current exchange rate of the $350 million contract for the rural electrification project was spent on 38 luxury vehicles by the then Ministry of Energy (MoE) under Dr Oteng-Adjei.

The luxurious vehicles purchased included 20 Ford F150 trucks at the cost of $700,769.64; two Grido Ford F150 at $120,949.56 and six Dodge Dakota SLT at $160,645.41.

The rest were three Ford Escapes costing $157,645.71; four Lexus LX570 at $438,921.57 as well as three Chrysler 300 at $166,217.13 – all totalling $1,745,159.02.

Additionally, there was the purchase of office equipment, including heavy-duty photocopiers, all totalling $51,757.39 with the grand total being $1,796,916.41.

However, there was no budgetary allocation for the purchases of the vehicles per the Auditor-General’s report. They were bought with money meant for extending electricity to 1,200 communities under the US Exim Bank loan between 2010 and 2012.