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Oct 28, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Many years ago, there was a story on the then Evening News on Channel 28. The story was about an official in Region Three who was granted a duty free concession for a vehicle to be used for his job but who instead was using the Region’s vehicle to get about his work.
The Office of the Auditor General did an investigation and held that the official who was granted a duty free concession on vehicle to be used in his work should use that vehicle and not the Region’s vehicle.
But what about Ministers of the government? Should they enjoy duty free concessions on personal vehicles while they are assigned a State vehicle and a driver?
In the case of Ministers of the government they were not in the past granted duty free concessions. Instead they were assigned a State vehicle. They had their chauffeurs and could use the assigned vehicles for both work and personal use.
It needs to be asked whether the situation has changed because of recent we read of reports in the media of ministers claiming that they had more than one vehicle. We have also read reports of a minister enjoying a duty free concession on a personal vehicle. This issue needs to be clarified because once the State assigns a vehicle to a Minister there is no need for that Minister to be granted a personal duty free concession.
While there may be nothing illegal about a minister enjoying a duty free concession on a personal vehicle, it really makes no sense for the State to be assigning a State vehicle to a minister and to allowing that same Minister to enjoy a duty free concession.
This should not be happening and there needs to be some explanation as to why it is happening if indeed it is happening.
The opposition parties need to ask a question in the National Assembly. They need to determine just how many vehicles are assigned to any one minister at any one time. They also need to ask if any Minister who is assigned State vehicle enjoys duty free concessions on a vehicle owned by the Minister.
If the government is going to tighten up on the granting of duty free concessions, then the political officials within the government must set the example.
If someone is assigned a State vehicle for his both personal use and work, that person should not enjoy a duty free concession. If that person enjoys a duty free concession on a personal vehicle then that person should not be assigned a State vehicle.
It is impossible for a Minister to be two places at the same time. It is impossible for a Minister to be using two vehicles at the same time. And it is unreasonable to ask a Minister of a government– any government– to use a State-owned vehicle to go to work but if that Minister has to go to the supermarket then that Minister should use his or her personal vehicle.
Ministers should have exclusive access to a State vehicle period. But once they do, they should not have access to a duty free concession on a vehicle that they own personally.
Another reason why this issue needs to be resolved concerns the number of State vehicles that are assigned to Ministers and top government functionaries. At one time it was reported that a Ministry vehicle was assigned to a daughter of a Minister. Now it is one thing for a vehicle assigned to a Minister to be used to move around the children of that Minister. We should not be petty and say this should not happen. A Minister is an important person and the State vehicle assigned to that Minister should be allowed to be used to move his family members around.
But it is another thing to have a different State-owned vehicle assigned to a Minister’s children.
So the question that needs asking is whether Ministers who are assigned State vehicles are also allowed to purchase their own personal duty free vehicles.
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