GOVERNMENT has offered former ministers and deputies vehicles that they used during their terms of office for a song, it has emerged.
Staff Reporters
Former government ministers who spoke to NewsDay on condition of anonymity yesterday said they had been advised to report to the Central Mechanical Engineering Department (CMED) in order to get calculations of their vehicles’ book values.
Ministers said some of the vehicles would be sold to them for as little as $1 500.
“Some of the vehicles ranged between $1 500 for the Mercedes Benz to around $2 500 for the (Land-Rover) Discovery. The prices were calculated according to their book value and mileage. Cars that were more than three years old and had high mileage, cost less,” one former deputy minister said.
“The newer vehicles which had lower mileage were valued to as much as $80 000 so the value of the vehicle depended on these things.”
The former ministers were formally offered the vehicles which include Mercedes Benzes, Range Rovers, Jeep Cherokees and Prados in letters sent to them by chief secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda a few months ago.
“Authority is hereby granted for you to purchase your personal issue vehicle with the following details . . . ,” the letters read in part. Former Water minister Samuel Sipepa-Nkomo yesterday confirmed that they had been offered the vehicles, but declined to disclose the price.
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“When you become a minister and they hand over the cars to you they tell you that as part of your conditions of service you will have the option to buy the car and should take good care of it,” Sipepa-Nkomo said.
“We were offered the Mercedes Benz and an off-road vehicle. We are not given the cars. CMED does an evaluation of the cars and then we are offered the cars at that price.”
