The government has presented 15 vehicles to the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) to assist it to carry out its duties.
The vehicles were presented to the Agency on Thursday ahead of the celebration of World Meteorological Day on Saturday, March 23 in fulfillment of a pledge made by the Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu Ekuful in 2018.
The vehicles include salon cars, 4×4 pick-ups and mini-buses, all valued at GHc 3.5 million.
Speaking at the short presentation ceremony, the Deputy Minister for Communications, Vincent Sowah Odotei who represented the sector minister said the presentation was part of the government’s efforts to equip the agency with the requisite tools to become the best meteorological agency in the sub-region.
He said the government recognizes the important role the agency plays in the country especially in terms of gathering information about the weather and advising agencies and the general citizenry about the effects of prevailing weather conditions.
He said the vehicles are expected to make mobility easy for the agency and ultimately help them discharge their duties as expected.
“We expect that you take very good care of it and make sure that the proverbial maintenance culture is ensured and as you are aware, you use it to provide efficient services,” the Deputy Minister said.
Vincent Sowah Odotei further urged the agency to maintain the vehicles and use them for their intended purposes.
The Director General of the Ghana Meteorological Agency, Dr. Michael Tanu expressed his appreciation to the government and the ministry for the intervention.
He lauded the government for taking a keen interest in the activities of the agency and prioritizing efforts to equip the agency with the relevant tools to help it improve upon the quality of its work.
“We thank the government for giving us these vehicles. They are going to help us to do our work properly by making sure that there is data available for analysis and be able to make sure that our equipment are working effectively,” Dr. Tanu said.
He also assured the deputy minister that the vehicles will be put to good use.
We promise that we will take very good care of the equipment and the vehicles so that we will do our part to promote the socio-economic development of Ghana”
Before the presentation, the Ghana Meteorological Agency had only two official pickup vehicles, with one of them being the official vehicle of the Director-General.
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By: Jonas Nyabor | citinewsroom.com | Ghana