Prez Mills
apologies to Nana Addo
Abdul Salam Sule, Ghanadot
Accra, February 18, Ghanadot - Mr
Mahama Ayariga, the spokesperson
for President John Mills, said on
radio program in Accra that the President
regretted the seizure of a
Land Cruiser vehicle belonging to Nana Akuffo Addo,
presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in
the 2008 general elections.
On
Monday February 16 2009, it was reported that
men presenting themselves as
National Security personnel seized a car belonging to Nana
Addo from his driver around the Opera Square in Accra.
The vehicle was subsequently taken to the Castle. The
seizure was carried out on suspicion that the vehicle
belonged to the State.
Mr Ayariga explained that though
the action was purported
to have been taken by agents of the
National Security, it was
not on the orders of the
presidency and it would be
returned with immediate effect to Nana
Akuffo Addo.
Hon Ayariga, reacting to the
broiling issue on
the seizure, explained on the radio
programme ithat
the presidency was in the process of streamlining the
retrieval of state–owned vehicles from former government
officials to avert the recurrence of such situations.
He pointed out however that the presidency
has had difficulty in retrieving some government vehicles
from ex-government officials and thus the seizure can be
explained to be a genuine mistake.
“There has been some general difficulty in relation to
tracing the vehicles and retrieving the vehicles. Honestly,
there has been some challenges in that regard and we have
had reports from the assets recovery sub-committee of the
Transition Team", he explained.
According to the Presidential spokesperson, the situation
has compelled some of the staff of National Security on
their own to move in to check a vehicle when they suspected
that the vehicle belonged to the
state.
What was yet to be
explained by Hon. Ayeringa was why the driver of the Nana
Addo cruiser could not tell the security agents
who the car belonged to.
Hon. Ayeringa, however, said that he had
advised security personnel to approach
such situations with caution in
the future.
Ghanadot
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