Posted: Daily Guide | Wednesday, 02 March 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) who have always demonised the New Patriotic Party’s property-owning philosophy seem to have been caught by their own deeds as many embark on a ‘property-grabbing’ mission.
Latest among several others who have been captured by DAILY GUIDE’s investigative team is none other than the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah, popularly called General Mosquito.
Apart from his block-manufacturing company which has landed him in a controversial case of conflict of interest regarding his dealings with the Bui Power Authority (BPA), the NDC General Secretary is believed to have simultaneously put up two big mansions in Accra and Kumasi within the last two years.
Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah however declined to answer queries regarding the alleged properties when contacted by DAILY GUIDE yesterday, because he claimed the newspaper had published twisted stories about him.
“I’m not talking to you because anytime you call and I tell you the truth about what I know, you still go ahead and publish things against me so you may go and publish what you want to publish,” he said amidst threats that “I will take my decision. If it is libelous, I will deal with you.”
In spite of his refusal to speak on the issue, residents of Oyarifa, a developing community along the Accra-Aburi highway where one of the imposing two-storey buildings is located, are convinced that the house belongs to the NDC General Secretary since he visited the place each day to see the level of progress of work.
Painters were busily whitewashing the edifice when DAILY GUIDE visited the site last week.
Sources say actual work on the two-storey building commenced somewhere in November 2009 and within the space of a year, it has been completed.
The only thing that is probably left would be the interior decoration since everything seems set for its owners to move in.
The house, which is touted as one of the finest in the area, is fitted with a number of air conditioners, water reservoir and satellite dish, with street lights around it.
It also has a security post attached to it. At the time DAILY GUIDE visited the site, workers were busily putting finishing touches to it, with painting almost near completion.
Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah, a native of Seikwa, who currently lives in the centre of Accra, visits the project site each day.
Residents of the area, which is sprouting with new buildings, expressed surprise at the speed with which the building was completed, considering the fact that several of such types of buildings in the area which began long before that of General Mosquito’s were nowhere near completion.
Most of these residents said they did not know the owner of the building until they started seeing General Mosquito when the work started moving at a fast pace.
He is also said to have put up another plush mansion at Daaban Panyin, a suburb of Kumasi.
This other two-storey building is believed to have taken six months to construct and it is almost near completion, with a boy’s quarters. Landscaping is already being done at top speed.
Residents alleged the materials used for the construction of the building, including bags of cement, were usually sent to the project site in articulated trucks, with a man suspected to be his brother supervising.
General Mosquito was said to have usually visited the Daaban building site in the night, probably to avoid prying eyes.
Checks by DAILY GUIDE revealed that the land on which the building is situated was initially owned by government but later on reverted to the Kaase stool, the original owners of the Daaban Panyin lands.
Due to the lavish nature of the building, residents told DAILY GUIDE, several developers trooped to the site to take photographs of the building, with the view to replicating the plan.
When DAILY GUIDE visited the site, the watchman in whose care the building was, was busily working on the lawn outside the house.
DAILY GUIDE was told the needed materials had already been brought in, expected to have been fixed by now.