Two Nissan Tiida Saloon Cars Missing from Labour Ministry Spark PAC Outrage

Members of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) were left astonished when an audit report from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations uncovered the mysterious disappearance of two Nissan Tiida saloon cars. The missing vehicles, valued at GH¢223,127, including accumulated interest, vanished alongside all their original ownership documents.

The serious discrepancy came to light when ministry officials appeared before PAC on Monday, May 18, 2026. The Auditor-General flagged the unverified transaction as part of a special audit report investigating GH¢68.7 billion in outstanding government arrears.

The Director of Finance at the Ministry of Labour, Madam Mary Ninson, admitted to the committee that the vehicles were “supposedly” procured back in 2011. She confirmed that the ministry has completely failed to locate any valid supporting records, invoices, or original registration documents to prove the transaction ever existed.

PAC is firmly rejecting the financial claim because state funds cannot be disbursed to clear historical debts without strict empirical proof of asset delivery. The ministry revealed it had engaged the local automobile supplier, Japan Motors, to establish the facts surrounding the old transaction.

Unfortunately, those engagements yielded only faint photocopies, which the Auditor-General promptly disallowed. PAC Chairperson Abena Osei-Asare questioned how the state could confidently settle an outstanding 60% balance on assets that cannot be physically found or verified in any inventory.

The complete absence of transport records has triggered serious internal allegations of “silent boarding” among sector observers. This illegal practice occurs when public servants unofficially divert active state vehicles into private hands instead of processing them through standard disposal paths.

Sources close to the transport department indicate that the two untraceable Nissan Tiidas were last spotted at a private garage late last year for routine servicing. However, they were never returned to the ministry’s pool, and security logs at the compound gates show zero record of their final exit.

Factual Insights into Ghana’s Public Asset Auditing:

• The Disallowed Arrears: The Auditor-General officially disallowed the GH¢223,127.00 claim due to a complete lack of original physical or digital verification.
• Building Expenditure Split: On a separate citation, PAC accepted GH¢4.3 million in certified works for a Fair Wages building project but rejected the remaining balance of a GH¢5.1 million estimate.
• Regulatory Compliance: Under the Public Procurement Act, any state vehicle decommissioning or asset auction must be strictly cleared by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA).

The mystery of the missing Nissan Tiidas proves that public sector institutions must implement stricter real-time tracking for all state-acquired assets. Allowing expensive administrative vehicles to slip out of official pools without a paper trail compromises the entire integrity of public financial management.

As the Ministry of Finance takes note of the disallowed claims, the priority must shift toward establishing foolproof digital asset registries. Until original documentation is treated as an absolute statutory requirement, the national treasury remains vulnerable to ghost procurement scams.

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