Peduase Lodge: Architectural masterpiece of Ghana

The Peduase Lodge, a presidential holiday resort and retreat at  Kitase near Aburi in the  Eastern Region was  built in 1959, by the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

It also served as the residence of Mr Edward Akufo-Addo, a ceremonial President, during the Second Republic, and Dr Hilla Limann, President of the Third Republic.

 Nkrumah's reasons for constructing the edifice were threefold; to improve the economy of the Akuapem Ridge, since many local and foreign organisations, including embassies, wanted to relocate to the place thereby attracting people and services to the area.

In addition, it would result in the expansion of the security operations beyond Accra since the security apparatus had to guard the President's residence.

Moreover, it would lead to the rehabilitation or construction of a new road linking Accra and the Akuapem Ridge, which would be beneficial to the people of the area.

 The lodge hit  the headlines across the world in 1967.

The occasion was the mediation talks between Biafran strongman, Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and the then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon.

The discussion was hosted by the erstwhile National Liberation Council (NLC), headed by the late Lieutenant General Joseph Ankrah, its Chairman,  which attempted to broker peace between the two factions when the Biafran War broke out in 1967.

The lodge,  consisted of an imposing four-storey building which housed a library, swimming pool, theatre complex and a guard and staff quarters, was allowed to deteriorate a few years after the overthrow of the Convention People's Party (CPP) government  by the NLC .

For 25 years, the edifice deteriorated to indescribable levels.  All the structures leaked, paint on the buildings had been washed off and the curtains were reduced to rags. 

The terrazzo floors were cracked and granite stones in the bath and dressing rooms got broken. Furthermore, facilities such as water systems, telephone lines, security camera network and elevators were not working.

At the four-bedroom presidential suite and the four executive guest suites, some of the beds were broken and were being destroyed by termites, while the expensive custom-made carpets imported into the country in 1992, had been left to deteriorate.

All kinds of receptacles had been placed in the presidential room to collect water which leaked through the cracked ceilings and walls any time it rained.

Meanwhile, the state was spending huge sums of money every month to maintain more than 80 workers from the Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Police Service, Electricity Company of Ghana, Parks and Gardens and presidential household.

After 2001, the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), under Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, despite opposition, went ahead to secure a loan to rehabilitate the edifice and restore it to its former glory.

The then Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Kwamena Bartels, was on record to have said that the state would require ¢7 billion (old cedis) to rehabilitate and refurbish the lodge.

When this reporter first visited the lodge in 2009, he was happy to witness a rehabilitated structure equipped with modern gadgets and lush grass.

Although public interest groups pressurised the late President John Evans Atta Mills to relocate from the Castle to the lodge, he did not but hosted local and international dignitaries like the clergy and diplomatic corps at the facility.

By Kweku Tsen