The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has paid GHC 61,000, being part payment of the GH¢ 116,400 realised from the sale of “unserviceable” vehicles, into government’s Non-Tax Revenue Account (NTRA).

The auctioned cars were: Double Cabin Pickups, Station Wagons, Saloon Cars, Buses, Motor Cycles, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs),Ambulance, Tractors ,Combined Harvesters and Motor Cycles.

This was captured in the Performance Audit Report of the Auditor-General on the disposal of government vehicles by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Ghana Health Service.

Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), James Avedzie, was alarmed that the GHS failed to pay the proceeds into government’s account until they were invited to appear before the Committee.

“Until we invited them to appear, they quickly ran and went to the bank to pay the money on Monday, so it is the proceeds of the auction that have been paid now from the Ghana Health Service account to the non-tax revenue account, which is now available to Ministry of Finance, to use for any other thing that the Minister will think is appropriate to use,” Mr. Avedzie said.

The disposal of government vehicles becomes necessary when they become redundant or unserviceable in order to make room for new and improved models to support the effective and efficient operations of the entities.

The purpose of the audit was to determine whether MOFA and GHS sold the government vehicles in accordance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2003, (Act 663) and the Guidelines on Disposal of Goods and Equipment by the Public Procurement Authority.

The Auditor-General’s report found that, GHS did not constitute Boards of Survey to assess the propriety of disposing off “unserviceable” vehicles but instead used a Technical Assessment Team that assessed and reviewed vehicles before their disposal.

Auctioneers engaged by GHS, according to the report, did not undertake competitive auctions to achieve value for money.