[ 2014-09-19 ]

VEEP gets new mansion
It appears President John Dramani Mahama is not in
a hurry to vacate the official residence of the
Vice President at East Cantonments area of Accra,
after spending huge sums of money to furnish his
(President's) official residence at the seat of
government – the Flagstaff House.

This is because the Mahama administration has
commenced the construction of what is believed to
be a new official residence for Vice President Paa
Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur at Cantonments.

The amount for the mansion is said to be in region
of several million dollars; and it is progressing
rapidly, in spite of challenges facing the
economy, for which the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) has come to bail Ghana out.

The new official residence of Veep Amissah-Arthur
is being built on the land on which the former
Nigerian High Commission was located—behind the
Police Headquarters at Broz Tito Avenue on the
Kumordzi Hospital Road, close to where the Food
Research Institute (FRI) of the Centre for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSRI) is
located.

Interestingly, Ghanaians were told that the
Flagstaff House, when it was built, was supposed
to serve as office and residence for both the
President and his vice.

President Mahama still occupies his bungalow,
which he moved into as Vice President, while Vice
President Amissah-Arthur is also staying in the
Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor's residence—where
he was residing when he was the Governor of the
apex bank.

Attempts to speak to presidential spokesperson,
Ben Dotsei Malor, were not successful as he did
not answer calls to his phone.

Last year a contract for furnishing the
presidential quarters at the Flagstaff House was
awarded to Ebby Mays Furnishings at a cost of
GH¢218, 565.50 (¢2.2 billion) yet, President
Mahama is still staying at the Vice President's
residence.

CSRI Lands
Dr Abdulai B. Salifu, Director-General of CSIR,
confirmed to DAILY GUIDE via telephone that the
ongoing project was to serve as the official
residence of the Vice President and admitted that
part of the CSRI/FRI land had been taken over by
the project.

'In fact, National Security had to come to us
before the construction of the building because
one of our bungalows was affected and we had to
find a replacement for it. I used to discuss a lot
with Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (then National Security
Coordinator) but he is no longer in-charge so
basically that is it,' he said.

'Where the massive construction is ongoing really
doesn't fall on our land. The only portion is the
bungalow to the extreme right which was demolished
to pave way for the construction of the Vice
President's residence, and we cannot lay claim to
everything. The land on which the Nigerian High
Commission was situated belonged to the government
and had been leased to the government of Nigeria,'
Dr Abdulai Salifu underscored.

Underground Facilities
DAILY GUIDE gathered that there are three huge
structures making up the whole project and all the
three have underground facilities. The project is
being executed by Consar Limited, an Italian
construction giant.

The paper also learned that there is always
national security presence at the construction
site and at one point the SWAT Anti-riot Police
was brought to the premises to forcibly take over
portions of other CSIR staff bungalows in order to
extend the Vice President's project; and a sort of
confrontation ensued.

'A security officer who was with the SWAT team,
allegedly ordered a staff from Consar to erect
stakes to demarcate the premises of the CSIR staff
to be added to the veep's portion amid threats
that they will be removed completely if they
frustrated the ongoing work,' a source said.

'The contractor has been pumping rain water which
floods the streets leading to the residences of
senior staff. Additionally, the main pipeline
supplying water to residents has been cut off and
a make-shift water supply provided, as a result,
we enjoy water only once or twice weekly instead
of the regular flow.'

'We have even been told that the roads will be
cordoned off as the project advances because they
will pose security risks to the property.

United Nations Project
There was also an allegation that adjoining
offices of CSRI/FRI were taken over by then
Minister of Environment and Science, Sherry
Ayittey, about five years ago for a United Nations
project; and upon completion, an unknown private
company was said to have entered the property and
is working from there, but the Director-General
said it could not be possible.

'That walled facility painted blue, was given to
the Ministry of Environment, Science and
Technology to embark on an UN-funded project. I
think it was a three-year project. Those premises
are currently vacant but the ministry has to
officially hand it back to us. It is not true that
the facility was given to a private company after
the UN project had ended,' he claimed.

Security Concerns
Dr Salifu said the facility would be part of the
graduate school soon to be established by the
CSRI, saying, 'We don't know how it is going to be
because it is very close to where the official
residence of the Vice President is being
constructed.'

There are concerns that CSRI lands are being taken
over by developers, including the government.
Currently, there is encroachment on lands
belonging to the Animal Research Institute, Water
Research Institute, Crops Research Institute,
among others.

Furnishing Contract
The GH¢218,565.50 Ebby Mays Furnishings contract
involved furnishing the residency, including the
downstairs corridors, costing the tax payer
an amount of GH¢67,220; GH¢1,669 for coffee room
curtains, voile and trimming; GH¢5,995 for
reception curtains, voile and trimming; GH¢6,455
for the main living room, voile and trimming;
GH¢2,261 for bar voile and trimming and GH¢9,755
for the dining area.

Others are: GH¢2,461 for a recreational
room—formal coffee room; GH¢171 for an informal
kitchen—Venetian blinds only; GH¢2,850 for gym
remote control blinds; GH¢3,604 for a family
dining room; GH¢1,925 for the main kitchen;
GH¢8,380 for the meeting area and GH¢3,243 for
the waiting reception/visitors' lounge.

The rest include an amount of GH¢5,940 for a
playroom and lobby; GH¢31,270 for the upstairs
corridors; GH¢7,212 for what was described as
Madam's room and library; GH¢7,212 for two master
bedrooms and libraries; GH¢11,540 on the private
lounge or suites and GH¢4,562 on a supposed
prayer room.

An amount of GH¢11,900.50 is also to be used to
furnish four family bedrooms, while GH¢1,323 is
earmarked for the furnishing of two VIP bedrooms
at the President's residence – not to talk about
GH¢2,156 for the VIP lounge; GH¢1,323 for two
security rooms and GH¢1,568 to be spent on two
guest rooms at the downstairs of the Presidential
Villa.

An amount of GH¢15,750 is earmarked for
workmanship, delivery and installation by the
company contracted for the job.

After spending this huge amount of money, it has
become a drain on the public purse because
President Mahama refused to move.

Source - Daily Guide

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