The Chief of Staff in the immediate past NDC administration, Julius Debrah, has opened up over claims government vehicles were sold for a pittance during the departing days of the John Mahama administration.

He has called the claims malicious and mischievous after the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Sector Reforms, Thomas Kusi Boafo, resurrected a discussion over the subject that dominated the early days of the Akufo-Addo government. 

Mr. Kusi Boafo made his comments in Twi which was captured in a video that has gone viral on social media.

This comes after Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid, that the Mahama administration sold state vehicles at least two days to the inauguration of Nana Akufo-Addo as President.

Mr. Kusi Boafo speaking in Twi, could be heard in the video accusing the previous regime of having the habit of expensive vehicles and have the suppliers buy them back at ridiculously low prices. In one instance he claimed that a vehicle bought for US$ 165,000 was sold to the supplier at US$ 2,500 after six months.

Mr. Boafo in the video which appeared to have been taken from a radio discussion also spoke about vehicles sold prior to the exit of the previous government.

In a statement issued and signed Monday, January 15, 2018, Mr. Julius Debrah, however, has described the claims as “totally false and malicious” indicating his preparedness to correct such “misimpressions and expose the mischief therein.”

“Under no circumstance and at no time during my tenure as Chief of Staff or the previous government was any such vehicle either bought or sold at the price quoted by Kusi Boafo. His claims in that regard are therefore totally false and malicious.

The statement further sought to clarify that: “On the matter of vehicles bought by ex-government officials, Mr Kusi Boafo and his principals are aware of a long-standing policy under which salon cars aged two years and above are permitted to be bought by departing government officials.”

This policy it notes, “has been in existence since the advent of the fourth republic and persons benefitting from it are made to pay a commensurate value objectively determined by professional valuers.”

“It is surprising, and perhaps underscores the malicious intent of Mr Kusi Boafo, that he failed to disclose vehicles bought by members of the Kufour administration on the eve of their exit from office under the same policy and processes in 2008/2009.

“Many of the beneficiaries of that policy happen to be high-profile members of the Akufo-Addo government,” Julius Debrah’s statement pointed out.

According to the statement the latest “false claims” also “appear to be a rehash of untruthful claims made by Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, to the effect that over 200 vehicles could not be found at the Presidency.”