GH¢44m SADA tricycles ‘rot’ away-in a warehouse in Tamale

About 2,825 tricycles and 666 motorbikes meant to be sold to residents within the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) zone, under one of the authority’s initiatives, have been abandoned at a SADA warehouse in Tamale in the Northern Region for close to two years.

The motor vehicles, which have been left at the mercy of the weather, were imported by Unik Savannah Limited, formed in 2015.

A private company called, called Unik Dezines Limited, partnered SADA to form Unik Savannah Limited to buy and sell motorbikes and tricycles under high purchase terms.

The 2,825 tricycles, locked up in the warehouse for close to two years, are valued at over GH¢44 million, as a unit is priced at GH¢15,600 on a two-year hire purchase.

The 666 motorbikes, however, were not for sale but meant for the staff of Unik Savannah to discharge their duties.

The abandoned motor vehicles are the remaining stock of a total of 5,000 tricycles, 800 motorbikes and 480 crash helmets that were imported by Unik Savannah between June and August 2015.

They have been abandoned at the SADA warehouse since December 24, 2015, following some internal wrangling between staff of Unik Savannah.

Internal wrangling
Information gathered by The Finder indicates that Unik Savannah was running smoothly since inception until July 2015 when Dominic Ayinnemi, who is alleged to be the nephew of SADA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Charles Abugre, joined the company as the General Manager.

Some executives of Unik Savannah were reported to have had series of misunderstanding with Mr Ayinnemi, which progressed into allegations and counter-allegations between some parties involved.

The Finder could not reach Mr Ayinnemi to comment on the issue as the landline assigned to his name in documents covering the transaction is not going through.
The wrangling and allegations led to the board of SADA halting the business of Unik Savannah and employed the services of an independent body to conduct an audit of Unik Savannah.

Till date, the company has stopped operating.

Supplied but unaccounted for
The Finder’s investigations reveal that out of the total of 5,000 tricycles that were imported, 2,157 were given out on hire purchase, with a unit price of GH¢15,600. However, only 80 have been fully paid for.

The total value of these tricycles, payable in two years, was valued at GH¢33,649,200.

However, only GH¢1,258,271 was paid for, with an outstanding GH¢32,390,929 yet to be accounted for as of September 30, 2016.

Breach of the arrangement
Per the original arrangement, SADA was to provide financial guarantee (letter of credit) of $9 million for the purchase of the 5,000 tricycles, 800 motorbikes, and 480 crush helmets while Unik Dezines was to provide funds for the operation.

However, SADA went ahead to pay for the consignment.

SADA statement
In a press release issued by SADA yesterday in response to the story published in The Finder on Wednesday, August 16, 2017, titled ‘SADA chases GH¢32 million debt’, SADA clarified that it was the authority that took the initiative to report the matter to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).

“Without prejudice to EOCO’s work, it is worth emphasising that it was SADA that detected the irregularities in the operations of the company, took steps to have them properly evaluated and subsequently reported the matter to EOCO in accordance with the law,” the statement explained.

However, SADA failed to explain why it paid for the full cost of the consignment even though it was only to provide financial guarantee for Unik Savannah.

Unik Savannah was formed as a joint venture between SADA and a private company, Unik Dezines Limited, with a 40 and 60 per cent equity share respectively.