Somewhere in 2001, President John Agyekum Kufuor (JAK) is alleged to have told members of Parliament that to ease their transportation problems and make them more mobile he was going to give them Peugeot cars from Nigeria.
According to “The Ghanaian Voice” investigations, Members of Parliament rejected outright the preposition from the President. This gave rise to the $20,000 car fracas, which saw the Majority and Minority emerging from a common front to fight for their common interest. So far, the Ghanaian public has been left in the cold as to what has happened to the $20,000 saga.
Then on February 11, 2002, President JAK secured fifty 306 Peugeot cars to the Police to step up their efforts to fight crime which has been on the ascendancy since the NPP party came to power. Naturally, this presentation and the fact that there are fifty more to come naturally escalated happiness and euphoria among the ranks of the police who have been doing a good job with the Toyota Tundra vehicles.
But then it was not all kudos as the Minority in Parliament led by Chief strategist Doe Adjaho, the MP for Avenor described the whole transaction as lacking transparency and shrouded in secrecy. He questioned the source of the money and the mode of acquisition of the vehicles and shouted foul and the heat was on.
The government side tried desperately to justify the transaction but tried as they did the explanation limped from one crisis to another. The Minister of Information Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey said that the money was taken from the Provisional Estimates approved in December 2001.
Then Hon Doe Adjaho came back again and presented facts to the effect that only ?820 million was approved for the Police service, which means, this could buy only eight of the cars. Meanwhile, the Majority leadership had told the House Committee of Parliament that President JAK had informed him that he has arranged with President Obasanjo of Nigeria to supply Ghana’s Parliamentarians with Peugeot.
Then walks in Finance Minister Osafo Marfo when he was winding up debate on the Government’s financial policy. He said that the government took the money for the Peugeot cars from the General Government Service Vote.” The Ghanaian Voice investigations have revealed that there is no provision made in the provisional estimates approved in the 2001 budget for “General Government Services.”