Daewoo: We sold MMT buses to Ghana at $175,000 each
Bus manufacturer, Zyle Daewoo Commercial Vehicle, based in South Korea, has denied allegations that the prices of some 50 buses that it sold to the government of Ghana in 2017 were inflated.
There are allegations that the government paid $175,000 for each of the buses when in fact the actual price was $75,000.
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The said buses were purchased by the government through the Ministry of Transport for the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Limited in 2017.
A social media critic, Kevin Taylor made the allegation on Facebook and claimed that the price of the bus as quoted by Daewoo on Alibaba, an online retail platform was $75,000.
He, therefore, accused the Minister of Transport, Mr Kwaku Owusu Asiama, his deputy, Mr Titus Glover and the Chief Executive Officer of GH-Daewoo Motors, Mr Isaac Ofori-Poku, the local representative of Daewoo in Ghana, of colluding to rip the country in the bus purchase deal.
False claims
Reacting to the allegation, Zyle Daewoo, in a statement signed by its Africa Regional Manager, Mr T.K. Kim, insisted that the $75,000 price displayed on Alibaba was the standard price used for marketing purposes which does not include certain specifications.
He explained that there are other specifications and conditions which raises the price when an actual order is made and Daewoo indeed sold the buses to Ghana for $175,000 for each unit price and not $75,000 as claimed by Taylor.
“There is no specification fixed. It is an idea price with no adding option. There is no mention about warranty conditions, training, parts and dealer margin for additional cost to be included,” the statement added.
Daewoo, therefore, said the broadcasting by Taylor did not reflect the true facts.
“We at Zyle Daewoo HQ state categorically that we sold the models GL6127HK and GDW6121Hk to our Distributor GH Daewoo motors in Ghana at $175,000 per unit. We strongly issue a disclaimer and repudiate the claim by Kevin Taylor that the models should have been sold at $75,000,” the statement added.