We Won't Surrender Vehicles - ex-NDC Executives

As if taking a cue from their colleagues who served in government and were rewarded with ex-gratia in cash and vehicles, former National Executive Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have refused to return vehicles in their possession to the regional and national secretariats. Not even official request by the party’s General Secretary, Dr Nii Armah Josiah Aryeh by way of a letter would make them budge from their unwillingness to release the vehicles.

Consequently, current national office holders of the party do not have vehicles to help them perform their official duties. Highly placed sources close to the party’s headquarters told the “Evening News” that the General Secretary has no official vehicle at his disposal, a situation which has forced him to use his personal car for party duties. Efforts by the current National Executive to retrieve the vehicles from their former colleagues has not yielded any positive response.

Some of the former national executives who have been approached said they wanted to keep the cars as their end-of-service benefits (ESBs) while others wanted to buy them. However, the sources said the National Executive Committee at its meeting on May 23, 2002, appointed a sub committee to see to the retrieval of the vehicles from former executive members all over the country. It said at the meeting, it was decided that a separate team should be put in place to deal with the issue at the national level.

The national secretariat is now cash strapped and lacks logistics to embark on party programmes. This has come about as leading members are not ready to contribute funds for the running of the secretariat. The sources said the General Secretary is now in a fix and he sometimes has to use his personal car and money to execute some of the party’s duties.

When The Evening News contacted Dr Josiah Aryeh, he could not confirm or deny the story. He however intimated that he wrote a letter on behalf of the NEC asking those who wanted to purchase the vehicles in their possession to return them to the party headquarters to enable valuation to be carried out.