Let’s ensure sanity in acquisition, disposal of vehicles

Professions globally are governed by laid-down rules and regulations.

Such rules and regulations are to prevent malpractices and to streamline the activities of the practitioners.

The auctioneering profession in the country is, however, operating in a vacuum.

Auctioneering involves the disposal or acquisition of properties, especially vehicle, with an order from the courts or any legitimate body.

Owing to the perceived lucrative nature of auctioneering, a number of people have entered the profession, doing business at the blind side of authorities.

Before the passage of the new Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I.2378), auctioneers selected to auction vehicles had to present their documents to the Office of the Chief of Staff at the presidency for approval.

However, licensed auctioneers who had gone through processes were short-changed by being side-stepped for other auctioneers, who were unlicensed but had connections.

Authorisation

The authorisation from the Office of the Chief of Staff did not normally go down well with the licensed, auctioneers because of political biases.

The challenges with vehicle auctioneering has persisted from the tenure of former President John Agyekum Kufuor through the Mills and Mahama administrations.

To address the challenges, the old law on Public Procurement, Act 914, 2016, which required the Chief of Staff to authorise the acquisition or disposal of state vehicles, was amended with the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I.2378).

The L.I.2378 empowers the Ministry of Finance to authorise such disposal or purchases of vehicles through the Chief Director of the ministry, who is required to append his or her signature to such transactions.

The coming into force of L.I. 2378 was, as expected, greeted with joy by the licensed auctioneers.

This is because it virtually minimised the preference given to party agents.

The question, however, is: will the current L.I.2378 stand the test of time, taking into consideration the changing pattern of governments at the end of every eight years of the Fourth Republic?

Licensed vehicle operators hope that L.I.2378 does not die pre-maturely, but is embraced by all.