Government finally sells off abandoned Hyundai Gallopers

According to the Ministry of Finance, seventy-five of the Hyundai Galloper vehicles have been sold off.

The vehicles have been abandoned at the Institute of Local Government Studies at Madina in Accra since 2001.

The Hyundai Galloper vehicles were expected to be distributed to the various Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies but the then John Agyekum Kufuor administration which came into office after the 2000 election failed to do so citing absence of a written contract in the purchase of the vehicles.

READ ALSO: NPP government pays over GH¢280 million as judgment debt

Commenting on its auctioning last year, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Kwaku Kwarteng  said government has resolved the legal challenges around the vehicles and it is ready to dispose it off.

He said, "We have gone to look at the vehicles. There were issues in court relating to those vehicles that in the past made it difficult for not just Customs Service, but the government to proceed to dispose of those vehicles."

Almost 20 years after the government procured them, the vehicles were not used for their intended purposes due to what some government officials have said is the challenge with paying the importers, African Automobile Limited (AAL).

As at 2012, the amount said to be demanded by the company was $1.5billion with reports suggesting a daily interest of GHs50 on each of the vehicle.

They were said to be intended for distribution to district assemblies but was abandoned by the Kufuor government over claims that AAL had no contract with government.