Posted: Daily Guide |Friday, 26 March 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu & William Yaw Owusu
Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles Allocation Committee (CVAC), Carl Wilson, has finally been booted out of office after a group of National Democratic Congress (NDC) activists locked up the party headquarters early yesterday morning.
The mob action, DAILY GUIDE learnt, pushed President Atta Mills to sack Carl Wilson, who had launched a belated PR blitz to save his job.
Apart from the disappearance of vehicles confiscated under mysterious circumstances, Carl Wilson was recently dragged to Parliament for the 18 missing motorbikes he was said to have sold.
However, there are still lingering questions as to why he was really sacked, since the deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia and the President himself, had earlier sought to clear him of any wrongdoing, demanding incontrovertible proof that their darling boy was corrupt.
Alex Segbefia had always sought to defend his protégé, Carl Wilson, whenever allegations of diversion and selling of confiscated cars at extremely cheap prices were made against him.
At a point, Segbefia was rumoured to have sworn to resign his position, pack bag and baggage and head back to London, if Carl Wilson was removed from his position, saying that newspapers could not take decision for President Mills.
This was when several key and influential members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) complained about the bad image the notorious Carl Wilson was creating for both the party and government.
Hours earlier, Head of Communications at the Presidency, Koku Anyidoho, had issued a statement indicating the President’s decision to dismiss Carl Wilson.
The statement, which was dated March 25, 2010, read: “Per a directive from His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills, Carl Wilson’s appointment as Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles Committee has been terminated with immediate effect.”
DAILY GUIDE stumbled upon another document about how Mr Wilson and another Deputy Commissioner of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), E.S. Ackwerh, allegedly allocated a plush Mercedes Benz 430 S/C to one Charles Odartey of Tema, without a traceable address.
The vehicle, which was a 2002 model, belonged to a foreign expatriate called Elgis and was said to have been given out for a paltry sum of GH¢8,681.00, far below the expected amount of GH¢22,090.88 he was supposed to have paid as duty, whilst the vehicle was valued at GH¢53,644.22.
The expatriate therefore caused his clearing agents, Messrs Cargo Management Services, to write to the Commissioner of CEPS, asking for a 60-day extension to enable him make payment, but received no response, only to realize later that the vehicle had been allocated to the said Charles Allotey for a pittance.
Angry youth of the NDC yesterday besieged the party’s national headquarters at Kokomlemle and locked the main gate to prevent the national executives from working, demanding the head of Carl Wilson.
The mob, who numbered about 50, said they were there to ‘force’ the party’s national executives to sack Carl Wilson since Segbefia had been protecting him.
They, among other things, claimed that Mr. Wilson had been tarnishing the image of the party and needed to be sacked without any delay.
When DAILY GUIDE got to the scene around 7:45 am, some of the angry youth, most of whom came from Nima and surrounding areas, had climbed over the main gate, with others loitering about, chanting war songs, while pockets of police officers positioned themselves at vantage points on the road in front of the office to prevent any eventualities.
They had used two tomato boxes to block the black gate but nobody was seen holding any offensive weapon.
Saddick Abukari, one of the spokespersons for the group, which calls itself Observer Pressure Group (OPG), said they were prepared to face anybody who would prevent the NDC national executive from putting pressure on the President to sack Carl Wilson.
He said, “We know our government is doing its best but we would not sit down for a few miscreants to destroy the party’s efforts.
“We are ready to go after anybody who tries to bring the name of the NDC into disrepute”.
Abukari complained about the way the party’s national executive had blocked communication channels between the party’s hierarchy and the grassroots supporters, saying, “We want them to sit down with us to talk about the future of the party and how things are going.”
Another member of the group, known only as Mozee, said, “President Mills and his appointees have to listen to former President Jerry John Rawlings. All the advice he is giving them is right. They are too slow.
“J.J. is the one who founded the party and today we are all enjoying, so President Mills and his people have to listen to him.
“We have sacrificed so much for the party to come to power but we are without jobs. This is unfair,” he yelled.
Mozee, who looked very angry, threatened, “If the government appointees continue to misbehave, we will go to their offices to remove them.”
The National Organiser of the NDC, Yaw Boateng Gyan, who addressed the demonstrators, told the angry supporters that Wilson had been sacked.
He said if any clandestine attempts were made to reverse the decision, he would join them to demonstrate against the Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicle Allocation Committee and whoever was trying to shield him.
Meanwhile, Information Minister, John Tia, has indicated that if after investigations into the allegations against Mr. Wilson no adverse findings are found against him, he will be reinstated.
This goes contrary to the statement issued by the President that Carl Wilson’s appointment had been terminated.
Somewhere in December 2009, agents of the National Security impounded a 4x4 Chrysler vehicle Mr. Wilson, together with his bodyguard whose name was only given as Daniel, and an Ivorian called Nana Kublan Olivier, had taken from the port, and were attempting to re-spray at Asylum Down in Accra.
Soon after the car was impounded, Mr. Wilson engaged the National Security operatives in a heated debate, during which he claimed that the said vehicle was to be given to ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, an assertion the ex-President refuted when he was reached on phone by the security operatives for verification.
Mr. Rawlings denied knowing Mr. Wilson, let alone, requesting a confiscated car from him.
The former President subsequently sent three of his bodyguards, led by one Dr. Lawson, to disassociate him from the stolen car.
Having been embarrassed by the ex-President’s denials, Mr. Wilson then changed his story that the stolen 4x4 Chrysler vehicle was rather meant for the State Protocol department, much to the amusement of the security operatives.
About two weeks ago, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, popularly called Napo, also accused Carl Wilson of selling some stolen motorbikes imported into the country from the UK, despite incessant warnings by the UK security services.
The Manhyia MP said that subsequent investigations by Interpol and the National Security revealed that some 18 motorbikes imported into the country early last year were stolen and had to be repatriated to the UK.
