Tango Over ?41.5m Renovation Of JAK's House

The Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Minority Leader in Parliament are locked in a heart-stopping row over the failure of CHRAJ to investigate allegations that the public purse was debited for renovation works at the private residence of President John Agyekum Kufuor.

The Chronicle can confirm that CHRAJ has discontinued investigations into the renovation works carried out at the President’s private house because Mr. Francis Emile Short says the Minority leader, Mr. Alban Bagbin, upon whose petition the investigation was to be based, withdrew his interest in pursuing the case.

Mr. Short, who will soon be on a sabbatical to serve in a United Nations war crimes tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, was responding to questions from The Chronicle on the petition filed by the Minority Leader.

But the Minority leader, who has been in the forefront of the anti-corruption lobby denied the claim by Mr. Short in an interview with The Chronicle, Monday, saying he hasn’t indicated to CHRAJ that he was not interested in pursuing the matter neither has he withdrawn his petition.

Mr. Bagbin observed that he was dissatisfied with the manner in which CHRAJ was handling the investigation adding that after his petition, the Attorney General responded setting the stage for CHRAJ to enter into investigations but they rather wrote to him saying that he should respond to the AG’ s response within 14 days.

“It is interesting that the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice is discontinuing further investigations into the petition I filed on the use of state funds to renovate the private residence of the President for the reason that I have said I am no longer interested in the matter. I have not said that,” he said.

He told The Chronicle that the matter is not that of personal interest but rather that of national importance and that the people of Ghana who own the money which was used in the renovation work, should know the actual facts surrounding the renovation.

Mr. Bagbin said that even if he decided not pursue the matter CHRAJ could still have gone ahead to investigate the matter because the law which established CHRAJ empowers them to initiate their own investigations into serious national issues.

The minority leader noted with regret that many people, including CHRAJ were behaving as if he had a personal interest in the matter and creating the impression that he was just out to cause mischief and embarrass the President.

“Let me state that I have no personal interest in the matter, I do not hate the President,” he added.

KWAMA MARFO
According to Mr. Bagbin, he has met Mr. Kwame Marfo, the man who paid for the renovation works at the President’s residence following the public outcry over the use of state funds for the project. Mr. Marfo was identified by the government as a farmer.

“I have personally met Kwame Marfo, he is trader in Accra here, Kwame Marfo says that yes he issued the cheque to cover the cost, but I do not believe him because the business that Kwame Marfo is running, selling spare parts and the statements or returns he filed at the Accountant Generals Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) prove that he does not earn that much income to be able to dole out ?41.5 million to government as a gift.”

He said Chronicle could not independently confirm this claim by the minority leader. When Chronicle contacted Mr. Marfo on telephone for his comments he charged on the reporter and questioned how the reporter obtained his telephone number. He said until the reporter mentioned the one who gave him his number, he won’t talk.

Angry Marfo told The Chronicle to leave him alone because he was neither a politician nor a coup plotter.

He reiterated that he is a farmer and that he is not afraid of anything because he is not a coup plotter. “For courtesy sake, I am a farmer otherwise I wouldn’t have said that I am a farmer. If you tell me how you got my number, I will send you to my farm.

“I paid that money out of annoyance, I am not a politician and because I am not a politician I did not know that is the type of trick that the politicians use. I am sorry to use that word, If you bring whoever gave you my number, I will tell you how I got that money to pay and you will not write anything about me.”

Mr. Marfo continued; “I am a businessman, please leave me alone. If you like go to Castle, go to President Kufuor’s house, whether I have ever visited the President. Ask whether I have ever visited any minister like a lot of business people do. Go and look through their books. If you want to do your work, please do your work and leave me alone. I paid that money because I was annoyed with those politicians. I didn’t know it was part of the game.”

Mr. Bagbin said the cost of the renovation far exceeded the ?41.5 million (he did not give any figure) adding that the President’s house was not just renovated, but rather rehabilitated.

When Chronicle asked the difference between renovation and rehabilitation he said “ renovations include painting works, and things like beautification but Rehabilitation entails working on the walls, changing tiles and changing the structural designs and that is more expensive”

Mr. Bagbin emphasized it was not that he hated President Kufuor but that his position stemmed from the principle of protecting the public purse adding, “because we do not have well-defined rules in this matter, we open the floodgates for such practices.

“That is why the Human Rights Commission should see it as a national matter and not my personal matter, that because I have lost interest in it so they are not going to pursue the investigations. ”

ANTI-CORRUPTION
Commenting on the issue an anti-corruption expert who has been sniffing around Ghana for updates in the CHRAJ investigation said: “that amount is obviously so small like you stated in your email but what is worrying is that they are setting a very bad precedence for the bad guys who will not take just ?41.5 million. What about if another president decides to take public money to refurbish the interior decorations of his private jet or like the other scenario you were talking about- completing his uncompleted house or even citing security reasons?”

“It is our understanding that you will not quote me by my name or attribute this comments to our organization because of the reasons outlined,” he said.

“We understand from our records that your President, John Agyekum Kufuor is one of the nice guys in West Africa who is running a very civilized government. However, we are worried about this issue because in our opinion he is setting a very bad precedence which will open the vaults of the public purse to the bad guys who want to loot”

The expert also noted that whether or not the money has been repaid by a farmer is not the issue; the issue is “what is the position of the law on the use of public funds for a private project, be he the President, the Vice President, the Minister or an ordinary person. Why should your government allow that farmer to pay if the law does not forbid it? Refunding the money is one thing and punishment is another”

THE BUSIA CONNECTIONS
Mr. Bagbin also noted that ex-Prime Minister Prof. K. A. Busia did the same thing culminating in the seizure of his private residence during the coup, which toppled him.

A Member of Parliament, Major (rtd) S. K. Amponsah, on May 29, 2001 also said on the floor of Parliament that the late Busia used state funds to renovate his house.

He said, “Mr. Speaker, during Prof. Busia’s time, state resources were used to renovate his house at Odorkor and these were some of the reasons that led to the confiscation of his house.

Major Amponsah continued: “Mr. Speaker, do you not think that the use of state money to renovate President Kufuor’s personal house is not in his interest as the President?”

These comments on the floor of Parliament drew a sharp condemnation from Mr. Kwamena Bartels, then Works and Housing Minister, who said: “ Mr. Speaker, I will first want to make it clear that there is a falsification of history here. The house of Busia at the time he became Prime Minister of Ghana had just been built and finished. It was a brand new house. There was no renovation by the Republic of Ghana whatsoever and I believe, in fairness, we should not distort history only for us to make a point favourable to us.”

Readers may recall that the Minority Leader filed a complaint at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) against President J.A. Kufuor, the former Minister for Works and Housing, Mr. K. Bartels, and former Chief of Staff, Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey regarding the use of public funds to renovate the President’s private house.

A man named Kwame Marfo, who identified himself as a Kumasi-based farmer, refunded the ?41 million and described as pettiness and insensitive, the criticism which had followed the renovation works.

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