Accra (Ghana), Oct. 13: The Indian government’s funding for the construction of a presidential palace in the Ghanaian capital has caused a row with a former Ghana president commending New Delhi and the present incumbent refusing to move into the $135 million home. There are even suggestions that it be converted into a poultry farm.
The presidential palace, called the Jubilee House, was funded by the Indian government under the regime of former president, Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, and it has generated a lot of controversy over the past 22 months.
Mr Kufuor has commended the Indian government for its decision to fund the building of Jubilee House which was to serve as the official seat of government away from the present Osu Castle that used to be a slave post.
But the President, Mr John Atta Mills, has refused to move into the building in line with his 2008 campaign promise that he would not live there as the money spent on the building could have been used on other things to benefit the poor.
Mr Tony Aidoo, head of the policy monitoring and evaluation at the presidency, had even suggested that the entire building be used as a poultry farm.
The initial controversy was over the cost of the project. Originally estimated at $36.9 millions, this was said to have shot up to $135 million with the provision of additional facilities to enhance external and internal security. The amount was part of a $60m facility that has a 50 per cent grant element, at an interest rate of 1.75 per cent, repayable in 25 years, including a five-year moratorium.
Officials of the new government under the President Mr Mills now claim that the official correspondence from the Indian consultants to the project put the cost of the Golden Jubilee Presidential Palace complex at $135 million.