Parliament has approved an $86 million loan facility for purchase of armoured Vehicles for GAF

Parliament has currently approved a loan facility of some $86 million to procure armoured vehicles for the Ghana Armed Forces.

The loan according to the Minister for Defense, Dominic Nitiwul, is to replenish the stock of armored vehicles for GAF.

Furthermore, the Defense Minister, revealed that some of the vehicles of the military had not been replaced for over a decade.

It will be recalled that, Government sought parliamentary approval to borrow a total of $166,120,000 for the purchase of armored vehicles.

The three separate agreements were laid in parliament on Monday, August 3, 2020 and referred to a joint committee on Finance, Defense and Interior.

The first facility is between government of Ghana (represented by the Ministry of Finance) and Israel Discount Bank Limited for an amount of Seventy-Four Million, One Hundred and Twenty Thousand United States Dollars to finance the supply of Armoured Vehicles to Government of Ghana.

The House also then requested the approval of a Commercial Loan Agreement between Government of Ghana and the same Israel Discount Bank for an amount of $12million for supply of Armoured Vehicles.

The third and final facility was a contract Agreement between Government of Ghana and Elbit Systems Land Limited of Israel for an amount of $80 million for supply of Armoured Vehicles.

All the 3 facilities were laid by Defense Minister Dominic Nitiwul.

The approval of the agreement in Parliament was blighted with some challenges posed by the Minority who raised questions about the value for money considerations underpinning the agreement.

Richard Acheampong, a Member of the Minority on the Finance Committee, said, “we have to take security matters seriously. Quality of product must be ensured. We must procure what can stand the test of time so that it is not like we are throwing out money, because, we are taking a loan facility for this purpose…It is a very expensive facility we are taking so whatever we are getting from it must stand the test of time.”

But the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul maintains that the necessary value for money checks are being conducted by the appropriate state agencies including the Ministry of Finance.

“Value for money takes various forms. Public procurement will do its own value for money, Parliament will do value for money and the Ministry of Finance will do value for money before the contract is finally executed and concluded.

“I can give members assurance that these are top-notch quality equipment that the Armed Forces have been looking forward to for a very long time. I am glad that members are very supportive of it,” the Minister said.

The loan facility was agreed between the Ghana government, represented by the Finance Ministry and the Israel Discount Bank Limited.