Akufo-Addo's 'funfair' launch of Zoomlion trucks a waste of time - Hassan Ayariga

• Hassan Ayariga has said President Akufo-Addo’s attendance at the launch of some 100 sanitation trucks was unnecessary

• The APC leader was of the view that government only wasted resources describing the unveiling ceremony as a fun fair

• To him, the move was a sign of poor leadership

Leader of the All People’s Congress (APC),

Read full articleHassan Ayariga, has said President Nana Akufo-Addo’s presence at the recently launched waste and disinfection trucks secured by Zoomlion Ghana was a ‘waste of time’.

Hassan Ayariga believes Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, unveiling the over 100 trucks, was unnecessary considering there were more pressing issues to focus on.

President Akufo-Addo, in his address during the unveiling ceremony, said the trucks will be to cart waste from business districts and communities to landfill sites and waste treatment facilities as well as help in the ongoing disinfection exercise rolled out since the onset of COVID-19.

Speaking on a yet to be released interview with Nii Akwei Akwei on GhanaWeb’s ‘The Lowdown’, Hassan Ayariga was however of the view that the trucks, meant to help curb the sanitation issues in the country, could have easily been distributed without any exorbitant ‘fun fair’.

“President just launched 100 vehicles and had to do a whole set up of fun fair just to launch Chinese Zoomlion vehicles,” Hassan Ayariga said.

According to him, the country is paying huge sums of money to waste management companies, yet the streets and gutters are filled with filth.

“…We blame the leadership because we not leading, we are not serious, we don’t know where we are going, we are not competitive enough to call ourselves leaders. We don’t care. Look at June third disaster what have we learnt from it?"

The two-time presidential candidate, battering his point, claimed the trucks cost 30,000 dollars each thus a hundred of them makes 3 million dollars. He further alleged that government wasted resources on the ceremony he believes costs more than the total number of outdoored trucks.

“How much is 100 vehicles, $3 million? The amount of money they [government] spent in doing that fun fair was more than the 3 million dollars. One car is $30,000. The Zoomlion Chinese motorbikes or tricycles, I call them...it’s $30,000 to $40,0000 for one. Hundred of them is about 2.5 million dollars…And then it took the president to come and sit down to launch a $2.5 million waste management company,” he retorted.