NDC exposed over $20m mansion

After almost a fortnight of incoherent and conflicting dispositions by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the ownership of the multimillion dollar edifice springing up at Adabraka, a suburb of Accra, the missing owner of the house has finally been found.

It is now official that the owner of the $20 million office building at Adabraka is the ruling NDC.

In its July 2011, issue number 18, page 2 of the NDC frontline newsletter, edited by Mr. Akwasi Sarpong, a research officer of the ruling National Democratic Congress, and presented at the party's July Congress, it has been stated that 'two sites have been acquired for building a befitting national headquarters. One is at Adabraka in Accra, which is being developed into a four-storey edifice that will eventually serve regional uses.'

The publication further provides a photograph of the said edifice under construction, which looks similar to the one that has since been vehemently denied by top echelons of the NDC party. Below the photograph is the caption -'New Headquarters Building'.

When this reporter contacted the editor of the newsletter, he confirmed that the building really belonged to the party, and that he indeed, sent his photographer to take the shots, which was used for the publication.

Asked if he was surprised at the denial, he said those denying that the building belongs to the NDC might not have had a copy of the newsletter at the congress. Because, if they did, Mr. Sarpong was convinced they would not argue the way they are doing now.

'If you had read it [newsletter] or listened to the General Secretary's report, you cannot deny the story, because the General Secretary himself mentioned it,' he affirmed.

Pressure group Alliance for Accountable Governance ( AFAG), which has been at the forefront in the search for the 'missing' owner of the controversial edifice, has expressed its strongest disappointment yet, at the government, and for that matter, the ruling NDC, for not being forthright with the truth.

'It is again, insightful to note that almost all the functional executives of the NDC have still not allayed the fears of AFAG and Ghanaians as to the ownership of the property, and the source of funding, especially, at this time that the corruption perception index has broken the heart of government,' according to Deputy Information Minister Okudzeto Ablakwa.

At a press conference in Accra yesterday, a leading member of AFAG, Henry Haruna Asante, catalogued some of the 'uncharacteristic inconsistencies of the NDC …and the functional executives and some leading members of the NDC, who have taken rhetorical shots at the issue.

He mentioned Yaw Boateng Gyan (National Organiser of the NDC), who he said, on the 5 th and 6 th of December 2011, on Peace FM evening news and 'morning show (Kokrokoo) respectively, could not be categorical on a yes or no account, but conceded to the truth in relation to the statement made by the General Secretary of the NDC, with additional information on a 20-acre plot of land acquired by the party for the construction of its office.

Again, he mentioned Solomon Nkansah, the Deputy National Propaganda Secretary of the NDC, who, on an evening political programme on Peace FM (the Platform) on Monday 5 th December 2011, conceded to the NDC ownership of the mansion, but denied the price quotation of AFAG, and said it was below $5 million.

'On Asempa FM's Ekoosi Sen' programme on Wednessday 7 th December 2011, the Central Regional Communications Director, Bernard Allotey-Jacobs, said that the edifice was theirs. Interestingly, he later denied the ownership of the edifice, after succumbing to incessant pressure from the same top guns,' he stated.

'In all these developments …one thing is clear, and the single logical conclusion that can be drawn by AFAG and Ghanaians is that we are still not clear with the position of the ruling NDC, in relation to ownership, source of funds for the ultra-modern edifice, and whether there is any connectivity between the government and the construction of the edifice,' the group further stated.

The group indicated that available evidence, which points to the fact that indeed, the NDC owned the mansion, was indicative of an 'uncaring and wicked government, whose interest is to splash money in the construction of an ultra-modern edifice, which personifies profligacy and ostentation at the highest level, with a whopping sum of 300 billion old Ghana cedis.'

This is at a time the 2009 Budget is still yawning for money in the construction of fishing harbours in James Town and Elmina, construction of landing sites in Winneba, Mumford, Senya Breku, Gomoa Fetteh and Moree in the Central Region, as well as Keta in the Volta Region.