Ghana's proposed Vice-Presidential Villa still unfinished 13 years after construction began
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Three unfinished structures in Accra's Cantonments, meant to become Ghana's official Vice-Presidential residence, are still unoccupied 13 years after construction started, with the state yet to reconcile spending figures that range from US$3.56 million to almost US$14 million.
Behind a high wall in Cantonments, one of Accra's most expensive neighbourhoods, three unfinished structures stand among overgrown weeds. They were meant to become the official residence of Ghana's Vice-President, on a construction timeline of 18 months; thirteen years later the residence remains unfinished and unoccupied, an investigation by The Fourth Estate published by MyJoyOnline reports.
Documents obtained by The Fourth Estate show that on October 10, 2013, the government of President John Mahama awarded CONSAR Limited the contract to build the residence, and construction began on November 3 that year. Records from Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AESL), the project consultant, put the original contract sum at US$3,563,884.50, with completion expected by May 2015.
By April 11, 2014, however, the government had already paid CONSAR Limited US$2,425,752.21, about 68 percent of the original contract sum, within the first five months of a project scheduled to take a year and a half. It is unclear why more than two-thirds of the contract amount was paid so early, or how much work had been completed at the time. According to AESL, construction stalled after the change of government following the 2016 elections, by which point the May 2015 deadline had passed by more than a year.
The uncertainty extends beyond the missed completion date: there is still no publicly reconciled account of the project's total cost. AESL records state the original contract was worth US$3,563,884.50 and do not show that this amount was formally revised, yet at least three markedly different figures have been associated with the project. In 2017, then Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia questioned reports that the residence would cost US$13.9 million, and Nana Akomea, then communications director of the governing New Patriotic Party, presented what he said was an AESL document showing a total project cost of about US$13.97 million, of which US$8,179,138.95 had been spent and US$5,789,113.71 remained outstanding. The then opposition National Democratic Congress disputed that account; Clement Apaak, MP for Builsa South, told Starr FM in February 2017 that the Mahama administration had budgeted US$5.9 million for the residence, not US$13.9 million.
A government official familiar with the project told The Fourth Estate, on condition of anonymity, that the area surrounding the compound has changed considerably since construction began, with several multi-storey apartment buildings constructed nearby, some overlooking the proposed residence. The official said these developments could pose security risks and may have made the property unsuitable as the official home of the Vice-President, meaning that even if construction resumes the state may have to determine whether the original design and location still meet security requirements.
Thirteen years after construction began, three questions remain unanswered: how much the state has spent on the residence, why it was never completed, and whether, after so much change around it, the site can still serve the purpose for which millions of dollars have already been spent.