Never Ghana Give You Up?

Yesterday's Ghanaian Chronicle reported on several government cars that have still not been returned by officials of the previous NPP administration, which was voted out in January 2009,

It was gathered that 41 government cars were still in the custody of Regional National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) coordinators and ex-government officials who have applied for the cars, but were not granted. [sic]

The government, according to our information, would soon direct national security to retrieve all the cars from people who are illegally keeping them after their names have been published in the dailies.

At the time this article went to press, several ministers had visited Osu Castle (the current presidential mansion in Accra) to negotiate for "time and a price review." The article is somewhat unclear on what is meant by this price review, but it does indicate that the current NDC government is considering measures that would prevent officials from purchasing their cars once their term is up. On the other hand, some ministers also appear keen to sell their cars for higher prices, which itself presents accountability problems.

I am personally quite annoyed with the behavior of the ex-ministers listed in the article, but one heartening thing I got out of this piece was the fact that Ghanaian newspapers (and probably the radio stations) were ready to seek out the ministers who weren't returning their cars and "make them known" prior to official impoundment. Score one for an active civil society.

On another note, if you find this or other stories compelling issues that President Mills and the NDC government need to address, then send in a question to the BBC's Africa Have Your Say programme in which Mills will be answering questions on the air. It's scheduled for this Thursday, 7 May, 1600 GMT. I may or may not have submitted a question of my own. (And it may or may not currently be the third one from the bottom.)