Kumasi, June 8, GNA - Mr George Ayisi Boateng, a founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP in the Ashanti Region, has appealed to President John Atta Mills to investigate the allocation of tractors imported for underprivileged farmers to government officials. He said President Mills had vowed to work towards uprooting corruption in all sectors of society and there was the need to take immediate steps to investigate the issue and stop it before things got out of hand.

Addressing the media in Kumasi at the weekend Mr Ayisi Boateng said he had in possession documents that show tractors imported by the previous government to be distributed to underprivileged farmers were being allocated to high ranking government officials including the President's own spokesperson, Mr Mahama Ayariga and the Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin and other officials.

According to him in an allocation letter dated March 24, 2009 and signed by Ing. J.K Boamah, Director of Agricultural Engineering Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and his Deputy, Mr G.K.A Brantuo, the tractors were being allocated on hire purchase basis to government officials and prominent members of the NDC, some of whom had already made part payments for the tractors. The cost of the tractor as indicated in the document is 18,000 Ghana cedis for the Kubola tractors with matching implements and 16,750 Ghana cedis for the John Deere 5403 tractors without harrows. The beneficiaries are supposed to make initial down payment of 10,000 Ghana cedis for the Kubola tractors and pay the rest in three instalments for a period of three years. Beneficiaries of the John Deere tractors would also make initial down payment of 9,000 Ghana cedis and the rest paid in three instalments for three years.

Mr Ayisi Boateng said according to the document, the beneficiaries are supposed to pay in banker's draft in the name of Underprivileged Farmers 2KR-2007 after which the accountant of the Agricultural Engineering Services Division would pay into the Underprivileged Farmers 2KR-2007 account at the Bank of Ghana. He said the investigation was necessary to find out the intended purposes for which the tractors were imported and the people who were supposed to benefit. This, he said, would help prevent government officials from allocating the tractors and other items meant for the poor to themselves.

Mr Ayariga told the GNA in reaction that he applied for and acquired the tractors for use by farmers in his constituency, Bawku Central. "Although I am no longer their representative in parliament I still seek their welfare." He said the tractors, five in number, are in pool and are being managed by a committee. A farmer who uses the services of a tractor pays 10 Ghana cedis per acre when the normal fee pertaining in Bawku is 25 Ghana cedis and is even lower than the government subsidised rate. Mr Ayariga said out the 10 Ghana cedis a farmer pays, two Ghana cedis is used in paying the tractor operator and the remainder is used to buy fuel and maintenance. Mr Ayariga, a former MP for Bawku Central, said it was a useful service he was rendering his people and he was proud it. "Whatever I can do to improve the living standards of my people I will do it." He said his experiment had proved so successful that government wants to replicate it in the districts where farmers would have access to affordable tractor services to expand their farms.