Minister's Billion Cedis Country Home

....FROM CIVIL SERVANT AUDIT CLERK TO BILLIONAIRE IN 2 YRS OF “POSITIVE CHANGE”
Mr. Isaac Eduasor Edumadze, the walrus-like Central regional minister, has told Chronicle that he had made money through poultry farming in the deprived backwaters of the Central region, to own a huge building complex he is currently finishing. He said he started building his future when he was a boy of 14, in 1974.

The 44-year old Member of Parliament, who barely three years ago, was so destitute that he was forced to squat with friends at Adenta, told Chronicle investigators this fable when confronted with findings of weeks of covert investigations under our constitutional remit - we are to hold public office holders accountable to the public.

The subject was a magnificent mansion sited a few meters away from Ajumako Hospital on the Assasan and Essakyir main Cape Coast road, Central region, where he reigns supreme away from the watchful eyes of President Kufuor in Accra.

The mansion, dubbed ‘Edumadze Castle’ by locals, is a 12-bedroom edifice which began to take shape around the middle of last year, contrary to his strange claims, and is one of the multiple ‘spoils of office’ the minister has cornered in the space of two years as a minister.

His middle name ‘Eduasor’ literally means ‘top of the tree’ and it appears there is no stopping him in his non-stop ascent to the top of the gravy train of personal Positive Change.

Conservative estimates suggest that the complex will exceed the billion cedis mark when completed.

And that is not all. Other projects we are probing, which bear his imprimatur include pieces of earth-moving equipment from the Central regional Feeder Roads department. Some of his cronies have also appeared to be feathering their nest, as our extensive investigations show.

Chronicle has reason to believe, based on intelligence and cognitive assessments, that by this minute, as this news hits the public domain, there will be a swift and determined effort to cover up the trail unless the usually imponderable agency for investigations and enforcement moves fast to follow these leads.

Mr. Edumadze in a full interview with Chronicle after several hits and misses, admitted the construction of the mansion, but will not be drawn on costs.
“The building is still under construction and I cannot tell how much it would cost me,” he said, adding, “it is neither 12 or 13 bedrooms, it is 8 bedrooms!”
Chronicle investigators are already ruffling up his tax records to assess his liquidity status and plan to follow up and insist on records of his assets declaration - if he has filed one at all - as demanded by the constitution.
Edumadze, who has received presidential reprimand more than once, is endowed with the gift of the gab and well known for manipulation.
He could not appreciate Chronicle’s incredulity at his capacity to own that property during the interview, but people who know him personally over the years, and interviewed randomly by Chronicle, were rather awestruck. One of them asked rhetorically: “If he was that rich why did he run his election campaign in a beat up ‘jalopy’ ‘chanchama’ Fiat? And also put up with a friend even after the elections?”

Another asked:“How much is his monthly income and allowances for him to put up such a building?”

Early last year, the minister acquired four plots of land, Chronicle gathered, engaged an architect called Stephen Appiah, and began to execute his dream mansion while his people were starving under the harsh economic circumstances.

By virtue of his position as Regional Minister, he was able to abuse his office by commandeering one of the Central regional Feeder Road Tipper Trucks with registration number GV 7432C to cart sand and stones to his project site.

Even though the building stands out as the prettiest among a row of new buildings springing up in the area, it is the first to grab one’s attention. From a distance, the expanse of the complex is not readily noticeable, but on closer physical inspection another block joins the main building, revealing the true expanse of a complex duplex.
Not even senior ministers like the two most humble achievers - Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor and Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, with years of private practice behind them, have been able to put together property like this in two years.
Before getting into politics, the stocky minister was a junior level employee of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), though he claimed that he did well there and managed to put away some foreign exchange.
In September 2000, he said he travelled to Germany and bought two Benz buses and two Isuzu buses, apparently with his salary that he saved at IRS while maintaining his wife and children.
IRS’ Mrs. Janet Opoku-Akyeampong may have to explain herself the kind of levels of salaries that she singled out Edumadze for. Chronicle investigations are continuing.