NDC Blows $20m On Party Office

The imposing new NDC headquarters building under construction at Adabraka

The $20-million plush edifice of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) under construction by a Chinese company has prompted questions of integrity by a political group.

Although a subject of street-side and political turf gossip when the structure started taking shape in the Adabraka suburb of Accra, with people wondering who the brains behind the expeditious project were, it is now public knowledge that it is the ultra-modern NDC headquarters.

The Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) has come out with a statement on the edifice, posing a number of questions bordering on what it fears is a concealed case of impropriety on the part of the ruling party. The party, just three years ago, was on the verge of being thrown out of its Kokomlemle headquarters due to unpaid rent arrears.

For a party which was on the verge of being ejected by the landlord of the building housing their headquarters, AFAG said it smelt something fishy in the rapid turnaround in the fortunes of the ruling party within this short lifespan of being in government.

In a statement signed by Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, Davis Opoku Ansah and Abu Ramadan, the pressure group expressed amazement at the speed with which the edifice had been fitted with underground facilities within a year, asking whether the project could pass an integrity test.

'As a group that promotes public interest and believes in accountable governance, the rapid development of this huge multi-purpose underground edifice within one year raises some questions which AFAG considers essential and of public interest,' the statement pointed out.

AFAG asked whether the edifice was constructed on the premise that an individual or company would be fronting as owners of this multimillion dollar project for the NDC.

The Chinese element in the project further raised integrity questions, it stated, asking, 'Why is China State Construction Company the executor of the project?'

AFAG recalled, according to the statement, how not so long ago, the General Secretary of the NDC explained why he could not submit audited accounts of his party to the Electoral Commission (EC).

The statement went on to explain that the party was unable to hire an external auditor, adding, 'It is worrisome to observe the near completion of the $20 million building.'

The pressure group was surprised that, in the light of this reflection of impropriety, 'there is silence on the part of anti-corruption agencies, civil society bodies and the media on the erection of a multimillion dollar edifice at Adabraka, a suburb of Accra which is intended to be the new NDC party headquarters.'

Though not against the acquisition of assets by any political party, AFAG explained, 'the development of this structure at a time that the ordinary Ghanaian is struggling to make ends meet, vis-Ã -vis the high unemployment levels, is absolutely not correct and a travesty of justice to the Ghanaian taxpayer, be it directly or indirectly.'

By A.R. Gomda