43 armoured vehicles were ordered on behalf of Akufo-Addo transition team: MP

A Former Presidential staffer in the Mahama administration, Dr Clement Apaak, has said the 43 armoured vehicles ordered at the twilight of the Mahama administration was done on behalf of the Akufo-Addo transition team.

“It’s indeed true that the said vehicles were ordered, but the request was made to our side during the transition. So if indeed the vehicles have been procured, I can say on authority that it was part of the request which was made by the incoming government,” he said.

He continued: “…What would have been the motivation to place an order for these vehicles for use by the office of the president? I don’t want to mention names but I know that in the coming days if this issue of trying to make sure that governance is a continuum at the request of an incoming government is used to try and tag our government as corrupt, we will have no choice but to provide documentary proof to confirm the fact that this request was made during the transition process by the current government. So there is nothing fishy about it and I think the timing itself should make Ghanaians know that it wasn’t President Mahama who was going to be in office after January 7th so what was the need to procure this kind of vehicles when we were leaving office?”

The Builsa South Member of Parliament (MP) made the comments on Citi FM news analysis programme “The Big Issue” Saturday.

Speaking on the same programme, the New Patriotic Party MP Ayawaso West Wuogon, Emmanuel Agyarko, disputed Apaak’s claims, saying the NPP transition team never requested for any vehicles.

He said: “as far as I know, nobody from the current Govt asked for any vehicle…Why would this government ask the previous one to procure vehicles when they were about to take over?”

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The cars have been specially designed to fire rounds of ammunition and are designed to withstand the effects of a hand grenade.

The former Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Salifu Osman is reported to have signed and approved for the use of the vehicle by the President, Vice-President, First Lady and others.

All four sides of the passenger compartment and the roof of the vehicle are protected using high-quality armour steel and glass defeating a NATO ball ammunition, the supplier Shell Speciality Vehicles described the vehicle.