A high court in Bolgatanga has summoned the Attorney General and the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council (UERCC) in connection with the sale of some 14 vehicles and heavy equipment owned by the state.
The vehicles and heavy equipment were sold on Thursday, 13 June 2024, by public auction inside the yard of the Department of Urban Roads in Bolgatanga.
But the regional coordinating council detailed soldiers to that yard right after the auction ended to prevent the purchasers from taking their items away.
The council also refused to release the keys of the vehicles and heavy equipment to the buyers.
The buyers, numbering 13, got receipts from the transactions but they have not had access to their properties from the auction day to date.
The court case was filed on Monday, 2 September 2024, by three of the affected purchasers— Bandemala Company Limited, Kofi Beckly and John Ayiretey.
Their lawyer, Mohammed A. Tiamiyu, had written a letter to the current Upper East Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, prior to the legal action. The 4-page letter highlighted the grief of the 13 purchasers and demanded the immediate release of their vehicles and heavy equipment on or before Friday, 16 August 2024.
The lawyer stated that he would resort to legal action without issuing another notice if the demand was not met. The ultimatum passed with the regional coordinating council failing to meet the demand, resulting in the lawsuit it had been warned about.
How it all started
The regional coordinating council wrote a letter to the Office of the President on Wednesday, 27 March 2024, seeking approval to dispose of the 14 vehicles and heavy equipment.
Those vehicles and heavy equipment were Komatsu wheel loader with registration number GE 3282-15, Komatsu bulldozer GE 3230-15, Toyota L/C V8 Station Wagon GN 8928-12, Nissan Navara GT 7561-10, Volvo Roller GE 7187-9, HBM motor grader GE 3237-15 and HBM motor grader GE 3233-15.
The rest were Volvo tipper truck GR 8616-9, Toyota Camry Salon UE 1-10, Volvo tipper truck GR 8599-9, Volvo wheel loader GE 5729-Z, HBM motor grader GE 3235-15, Man diesel truck GE 366-15 and Volvo motor grader GE 5710-Z.
The approval was granted in a reply written on Friday, 31 May 2024, by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, and signed by the Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Operations, Emmanuel Adumua-Bossman.
The reply letter stressed that the vehicles and the heavy equipment should be disposed of by public auction.
It stated that “a serving officer of the office” who wished to purchase “any saloon car” for their personal use should be one who had never benefited from such sales.
The letter also introduced a professional auctioneer, Alhaji Mohammed Osman, as the official to conduct the auction sales for the government.
Alhaji Osman is the managing director of Mali-Bi-Vihira Mart, an auctioneering firm based in Tamale, Northern Region.
The auction
Subsequently, the auctioneer placed an advertisement about the auction in the Ghanaian Times newspaper on Tuesday, 11 June 2024, and Wednesday, 12 June 2024.
The auction took place on Thursday, 13 June 2024, with several members of the public in attendance.
But when the successful bidders went for their items, soldiers prevented them from taking them, and the regional coordinating council declined to give them the keys to their properties.
When the author of this report contacted the auctioneer on the matter, he said the purchasers were being denied access to their items because some big shots were interested in the vehicles and heavy equipment.
He explained that the regional coordinating director, Alhaji Inusah Abubakari, had invited him to his office for a meeting before the auction sales exercise took place.
During the alleged meeting, the regional coordinating director told the auctioneer that he and a former Upper East regional minister who now serves as the Upper West Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, needed some of the vehicles and heavy equipment.
He said the regional coordinating director also gave him a list of the vehicles and heavy equipment they wanted.
The same list, according to the auctioneer, also had eight other names of some unidentified individuals to whom the regional coordinating director said he and the Upper West Regional Minister would like him (the auctioneer) to allocate some of the vehicles and heavy equipment.
How the vehicles and equipment were shared on the alleged list
The auctioneer showed a copy of the list to Media Without Borders.
The first name on the list was Adam Karim. He was to be given the HBM motor grader with registration number GE 3237-15. Next on that list was Solomon Ananga. The auctioneer was asked to allocate the Toyota Camry Salon with registration number UE 1-10 to him.
The third person, Paa Bruku Boateng, was to be allotted the HBM motor grader with registration number GE 3233-15. The fourth name on the list was Nicholas Aidoo. He was to be given the Nissan Navara with registration number GT 7561-10.
The next person was the Upper West regional minister, Stephen Yakubu. The Volvo Roller with registration number GE 7187-9, the Man diesel truck with registration number GE 366-15 and the Volvo tipper truck with registration number GR 8599-9 were written against his name.
The regional coordinating director followed on the list. He was to take away the Toyota L/C V8 Station Wagon with registration number GN 8928-12 and the Volvo tipper truck with registration number GR 8616-9.
The other four names on the list were Christopher Issaka, Edmund Bombande, Solomon Atarah and Surajdeen Saeed. The list did not mention the vehicles or heavy equipment the four individuals were to take away from the regional coordinating council. The auctioneer said he was told to share the remaining vehicles and heavy equipment among the four people.
Big shots failed to make agreed payments— Auctioneer
The auctioneer said the meeting did not end well for the regional coordinating director because he (the auctioneer) strongly declined to conduct a selective auction exercise, having been directed by the chief of staff to sell the vehicles and heavy equipment by public auction.
He said he offered the regional coordinating director and the Upper West regional minister an opportunity to bid for their preferred vehicles and heavy equipment during the public auction sales but they failed to make payments within the given time limit.
The auctioneer further revealed there was pressure on him also to purchase those vehicles and the heavy equipment for the regional minister and the coordinating director with his own money.
He said he shrugged off the pressure and sold the vehicles and heavy equipment to different bidders who paid the agreed amounts before the deadline passed.
He explained that his refusal to go by the list against the directive from the office of the president was what led to soldiers being detailed to the yard to prevent those who successfully and “lawfully” bid for the items from taking them away.
Regional coordinating director’s comment
When contacted, the regional coordinating director said never had any meeting with the auctioneer concerning the vehicles and equipment. He said he did not present any wish list to him, and challenged him to prove the claims.
He, however, admitted to expressing interest in some of the vehicles but refuted the allegation that he asked the auctioneer to purchase them for him with his own money.
The regional coordinating director further stated that he assigned soldiers to prevent the vehicles and heavy equipment from being taken away because his outfit was not officially aware of any public auction exercise.
“It’s true we detailed soldiers to the yard because we are not aware he did any public auction. Can you imagine? So, he should have access to my yard and do whatever he wants to do? The auction was done without the RCC’s consent and knowledge.
“So, we staff of the RCC are not entitled to the vehicles and equipment? Is that the case? Are we not Ghanaians? Are the public people who want the items more qualified for the equipment than the users? He sold to the highest bidders, right?” he stated.
The Upper West Regional Minister (Stephen Yakubu) did not respond to a request made by this media outlet for his comment on the matter.
The court’s hearing of the matter is yet to begin.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana
