More than 50 vehicles are wasting away at the headquarters of the National Identification Authority (NIA), checks by Citi News have revealed.
The 2014-registered vehicles consist of 50 Nissan pickups, three buses, three vans and one saloon vehicle.
In January this year, when Citi News visited, the grounded pickups numbered in their hundreds.
Meanwhile, the NIA has procured newer versions of the pickups for its operations.
The market price of one of the Deluxe Nissan vehicles is estimated at $25,000.
Even though these vehicles were procured by the previous administration, there is no sign the current administration will manage these new vehicles any better as one of the new cars has already been dumped with the old ones since Citi News first sighted it in January.
The National Identification Authority is mandated to carry out the nationwide registration exercise for the Ghana Card; an instant, free multipurpose national ID card for Ghanaians.
The commencement of that project initially faced several setbacks over logistical challenges.
The personnel conducting the exercise have, on a number of occasions, also threatened to abandon their posts over delayed allowances.
The Authority has declined to respond to Citi News‘ findings.
However, the questions remain; did administrators of the Authority insure the old vehicles? Why did the administrators of the Authority leave the vehicles to rot without properly maintaining them?
Why were the old vehicles were not repaired and auctioned before the new ones were procured? Who has been punished for causing this financial loss to the state? And finally, how long until the remaining new vehicles suffer the same fate?
Source: citinewsroom.com
