Help Me Recover Unibrick Flats And "Rawlings' Govt Anti-Private Investment

Dear Editor,

RE: “HELP ME RECOVER UNIBRICK FLATS “ AND “RAWLINGS’ GOVERNMENT ANTI-PRIVATE INVESTMENT”

My name is Baffour Assasie-Gyimah, Chairman of the Unibrick Coordinating Committee and I write to you jointly in connection with the publication of the above-mentioned headlines in your dailies of 3rd October 2003. I know by those publications you were only reporting what might have taken place at the National Reconciliation Committee (NRC) on the 2nd October 2003. If I should have any problem with the testimony of that day the proper forum for redress should have been the NRC itself. In this case, however, I want to exercise my right to rejoinder under the Constitution as I think resorting to the NRC would serve no useful purpose.

On the 4th September 2003, I received a letter NRC/INV/V3/SFI/220 with the title “REQUEST FOR INFORMATION” from the NRC on case No ACC 000717 asking me for information on a petition it had received from one Dr Mathew Narh Tetteh claiming ownership of Unibrick Housing Units at Dansoman and Adentan.

On the same day, I wrote and sent by hand-delivery my response requesting for a copy of the statement Dr Tetteh had submitted to the NRC to enable me respond to any claim he might have made. I followed up with telephone calls to the NRC, expecting a copy of Dr Tetteh’s claim. Up to the time of writing this piece, the NRC has not even acknowledged my letter let alone providing me with a copy of Dr Tetteh’s claim.

It would surprise you dear Editor that Dr Tetteh was given the platform on the 1st and 2nd October 2003 to narrate publicly his claim that he owns the Dansoman and Adentan properties, just because he claims he invented the chemicals used to mould the Unibrick bricks.

The NRC therefore made it difficult if not impossible for me to help it or cooperate with it by providing it with evidence of the truth. Now you can understand why I have to resort to your medium for redress instead of the NRC.

Furthermore, since the dailies have published the testimony of Dr Tettey, I would want to briefly use your medium to speak the truth, as I know it in connection with the Unibrick housing technology and Dr Tetteh.

My only worry is that the NRC would have had informed choices as to how it would evaluate Dr Tetteh’s petition if my side of the story were known beforehand.

DR TETTEH’S CLAIM

In his appearance before the NRC, Dr Tetteh told the Commission that he is a scientist and an inventor and indeed he invented the Unibrick technology with which he claims he built a five-storey and a three storey buildings at Dansoman and eleven flats at Adentan. He further claims the PNDC seized these buildings and gave them out to its agents, whilst he the owner now lives in rented quarters in Tema. To the uninitiated this indeed sounds sad. He further claimed before the NRC or as it is reported in the paper that “Rawlings’ Administration did not want private individuals to have so much resources because they could pose a security risk to it” hence the seizure of his properties. These are all lies.

THE FACTS

The unibrick technology briefly is the use of a chemical in place of cement to mould bricks out of clay and it is generally believed in Ghana that Dr Tetteh invented the chemical.

There is little doubt that Dr Tetteh approached the Government of the PNDC with the invention of the Unibrick technology and asked for assistance in promoting it. The Unibrick coordinating Committee was formed comprising experts drawn from over eight ministries and organisations all versed in building and related matters. This committee never belonged to Dr Tetteh. It was a Government sponsored venture. It was called the PNDC Unibrick Coordinating Committee. The only thing Dr Tetteh did was sell the end product of his discovery which is the chemical to the committee. By this the Government of Ghana made it possible for the Unibrick Coordinating Committee to source an IDA loan of Three Hundred Thousand dollars ($300,000.00) to import the chemicals and equipment from Germany through Dr Tetteh’s company UNICLEAN LTD. The point here is that the Government of Ghana through the PNDC Unibrick Coordinating Committee bought and paid for all the items used in the manufacture of bricks from Dr Tetteh’s company Uniclean Ltd.

The breakdown as found in import documents is as follows: 1. Chemicals SB99 & SB86 (608 drums) - $204,800 (this is the chemical Dr Tetteh is suuposed to have invented)

2. Unibrick plant Model CLU 200 - ?2020 (each) (It is a Brick making machine)

3. Leyland Land Master Lorry - ?17,750

4. Freight & Insurance - ?2934

Dear Editor, the point here is that even if we accept that Dr Tetteh invented the Unibrick technology, he had reduced the technology into the chemical SB99 & SB86 and sold this end product to the Unibrick Coordinating Committee per the Ghana Government with the IDA loan of $300,000.00. If the coordinating committee used the purchased chemical and the brick-making equipment in moulding bricks to put up houses, how then can Dr Tetteh lay claim to the houses? If this puerile and comical argument is carried to its logical conclusion then one day the inventor or discoverer of clinker or his representative will surface and lay claim to all houses in Ghana with the excuse that his invented clinker has been bought and used to put up houses in Ghana and all over the world!

THE UNIBRICK BUILDING PROJECT

I have already indicated that with the formation of the PNDC Unibrick Coordinating Committee the Government assisted the Committee to source an IDA loan of $300,000.00 with which it imported the chemicals from Germany using Dr Tetteh’s Unibrick Company in 1984.

The coordinating committee further received an initial grant of 9,7 million Cedis from the Government and it started the construction of twelve housing units on land acquired in Dansoman. In March 1986 the Government of Ghana withdrew its financial support to the PNDC Unibrick Coordinating Committee when only six out of the twelve housing units had been completed. The committee resorted to bank overdrafts to complete the remaining six by August 1987.

In all the coordinating committee spent 26.7 million Cedis to complete the twelve housing units in 1987. These houses are categorised as the phase one of the project.

Phase two of the project consisted of the building of a five-storey high-rise housing unit at Dansoman. There are 30 housing units in it and funds were sourced from the State Insurance Company, which offered 30 million Cedis for the project. Phase II was built for the exclusive use of members of the FRB whose life policies were used as collateral for the SIC loan and it was a own your own home project for the soldiers.

Phase III was closely associated with Phase II and it was an 18 two bedroom housing units meant for retiring senior Non Commissioned officers (SNCOS).

The last project was Phase IV by which 12 housing units were to be built for officials and private people provided they paid upfront for the project to start. Each building was estimated to cost over 14 million Cedis.

As at the time of writing, only six out of the twelve have been completed by the Unibrick Coordinating Committee and they have all been given to their owners who have legally paid for them. Phase IV is the only project situated at Adentan, Accra and the coordinating committee acquired the land legally from the State Housing Company and assigned its interest to the beneficiaries.

This is the state of affairs of the Unibrick project and in all these acquisitions, the role of Dr Tetteh has always been that he is supposed to be the owner or inventor of the chemicals. He sold the chemicals and the machines to the Committee for over $ 300,000.00 and it was paid for. He was not even a member of the PNDC Unibrick Coordinating Committee. He never acquired any land for the buildings; neither did he put in a pesewa for labour and auxiliary matters. How then can he claim ownership of the buildings? In fact Dr Tetteh was out of the country when Phase II, III and IV were conceived and implemented.

It is indeed very ironic that in 1988 the Auditor General in his audited accounts of PNDC Unibrick Coordinating Committee asked Dr Tetteh to refund an amount of $ 30,842.60 being an amount he could not account for after utilising the $ 300,000.00loan from the IDA. This can be found in the Auditor General’s Report of 8th March 1988 and signed by one Mr J K Ghansah, Deputy Auditor General; furthermore, Dr Tetteh further took an amount of ? 50,000 from the Government of Ghana in 1987 to register the patent for Unibrick. He has still not accounted for it neither has he paid back. It is believed in some quarters that he just swindled the Government of Ghana, as he has no patent to register.

The efficacy of the Unibrick Chemical as an adhesive in moulding bricks can never be in doubt but whether the technology is Dr Tetteh’s is what has not been proved beyond every doubt. Indeed the address of the exporter company of the chemicals is available and it is possible to import the chemical if one has the money. Therefore the Unibrick chemical like clinker can be accessed so nobody should lay claim to the houses built with it. The best Dr Tetteh can do is to market his chemical if indeed it is his. No one knows what he went to do in Uganda. As he claims he had to run for his life. Maybe he tried to swindle them as well.

In conclusion, I would want to say that Dr Tetteh did not build any houses for the PNDC to take over as he claims. There is no law, decree or announcement to the effect that PNDC had taken over any property of Dr Tetteh so there is no human right issue here. Dr Tetteh sold “his” chemicals to PNDC and they were bought and paid for in hard currency and the chemical used to mould brick to put up the Unibrick houses. This is the true state of affairs of the Unibrick houses and Dr Tetteh should not be allowed to further compromise the credibility of the NRC with his lies and half-truths.

Yours faithfully

BAFFOUR ASSASIE-GYIMAH
VANDERPUYE LAW CONSULT
No 7, 2 Crescent, Asylum Down
Box CT 2019
Cantonments- Accra

Cc
THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY NRC
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THE NATIONAL SECURITY COORDINATOR
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