The Ahanta West Municipal Assembly (AWMA) in the Western Region says the sale of its Grader machine was done in the most transparent and open manner. The machine was auctioned on March 2, 2023 at a cost of GHC17, 000.00.
However, some Assembly Members have raised red flag over the auction, most especially the cost.
A former Assembly Member for Aboade, and Finance and Administrative (F&A) Chairman of the Assembly, Ebenezer Essien, believes the decision to auction the machine at the time roads had deteriorated in the area would seriously affect the communities.
Speaking in a telephone interview, Ebenezer Essien said the assembly did not obviously think through before the decision was taken to sell the machine, asking “how much is the tyre of the Grader plus the blade for the Assembly, to arrive at GHC17K as auction price.
“I don’t think the Assembly did a cost benefit analysis in arriving at the auction. Because the benefit of the machine to the communities, plus the cost of buying fuel as compared to going out to hire one to grade roads was very expensive. As a former F&A Chairman, the benefit we get from the machine and cost of repairing it, I don’t think disposing it off was the best. To me it’s a poor decision by the Assembly,” he said.
To him, the Assembly only wanted to shirk its responsibility in the area of grading and creating access roads, a reason the poor decision to auction the machine was taken.
Another former Assembly Member, Nicholas Nyanko, also expressed shock over the auction of the machine. He told this reporter in an interview that as former Chairman in charge of the Grader Machine, he knew the benefits the communities in the Municipal were getting from its operations.
Former Assembly Member Nyanko mentioned how communities like Beahu and Apowa amongst others benefitted from using the machine to grade their roads. The machine, he told this reporter, was also used for commercial purposes, which generated revenue for the Assembly under his watch as Grader Committee Chairman.
He said, a special account was created in the name of the machine for its commercial use, which benefitted the assembly tremendously.
For this reason, he pointed out that the decision to auction the machine was a bad one and one not in the interest of the communities in the Municipality. He asked “how much is tricycle for you to auction a whole machine at GHC17K”.
When this reporter drew his attention to the fact that the Assembly Members approved the auction of the machine, Nicholas Nyanko disagreed, saying it was a few Assembly Members who might have taken that decision.
But the Ahanta Assembly, through the Municipal Coordinating Director (MCD), Daniel Kayange, who confirmed the auction, told this reporter that the process was fair, open and transparent.
According to him, given the amount of money expended on the machine for repair works, the entire Assembly Members resolved that it should be auctioned.
According to him, they can sometimes spend GHS16,000 to repair the machine, only for the same fault to re-occur a few weeks later.
So following the resolution by the elected Assembly Members to auction the machine, a process was started to auction it.
A team, the Coordinating Director mentioned, was constituted to determine which items were obsolete. The Assembly Members presented a report, including the Grader machine, plus other items.
The Assembly, he said, wrote to the Ministry of Finance, in accordance with the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act to seek for approval.
The MOF approved it and sent down an Engineer to access the items, including the Grader machine. State Transport Company (STC) valued the Grader machine at GHC15, 000.00
However, Mount Zion, the Auctioneer, was appointed to carry out the auction, which was advertised in one of the daily newspapers.
The machine was eventually auctioned on March 2, 223 at the cost of GHC17, 000.00 by the auctioneer.
GRADER MACHINE
The Grader machine in question was supplied to every Municipal, District and Metropolitan Assembly under the previous government. The machine was supplied by JA Plant Pool. Payment for the machine was deducted every quarterly through the Common Fund.
