Gov't Vows Never To Return Them

Government has vowed never to return the private vehicle of Nana Akufo-Addo, the 2008 flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), after National Security operatives snatched the car 11 months ago.

The said vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser, was snatched from a mechanic's garage in April of last year and has since remained in the custody of government though no official reason or explanation has been given.

Interestingly, the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), in a news release issued on Thursday, said Nana Addo's vehicle was seized by government because the original importer, Fair Shipping Agencies Ltd., underpaid the duties on the car.

The release signed by Imoru Farouk Adam, Deputy Commissioner of CEPS in charge of Human Resource and Administration, noted that until the said importer pays the full tax, the vehicle would not be returned to Nana Addo.

It stated further that CEPS had given the importer up to 30 days within which the said tax, which amounts to GH¢6,933.86, must be paid if Nana Addo wants his vehicle back.

The Deputy Commissioner disclosed that CEPS has interdicted the two officers that assessed the tax component on the vehicle.

This is the second vehicle to be snatched from Nana Akufo-Addo since the National Democratic Congress (NDC) came to power some 15 months ago and embarked on a vehicle snatching spree.

Another vehicle of his, a black Toyota Land Cruiser V8 Series with registration number GE 4416 Z, was also snatched by a four-man security team directed from the Osu Castle while the driver, Joseph Addo, was on a shopping errand at the Opera Square in Accra.

The car was the main campaign vehicle the NPP presidential candidate used in the last election and he had traveled outside Ghana when the Castle Boys pounced on his driver.

The driver, Joseph Addo, told DAILY GUIDE that he parked the car at a spot near the Opera Square to buy a few items, and returned to the vehicle a few minutes later only to see a hefty man in a black suit by the car.

Mr. Addo indicated that the man ordered him to drive the said vehicle to the Castle because it looked like a government car. He added that when he declined to go to the Castle, the man telephoned three other men, one of them in police uniform, who assisted him in taking the vehicle to the Castle.

He said at the Castle, which has become the den of an illegal car-seizing syndicate, a transport officer whose name he was not told, asked him to go home and fetch the original documents of the car.

"When I went home for them, they said the Army Colonel in charge of the operation was not available so I should leave the premises," he told Daily Guide.