Simon Osei-Mensah, the former Ashanti Regional Minister, has denied allegations made by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that he neglected the official bungalow for Ministers and the presidential villa in the Ashanti Region.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused him of neglecting the properties during his eight years in office, resulting in the Presidential Villa and official house becoming overgrown with weeds and infested with reptiles. The NDC promised to look into the situation and bring those involved to justice.
Speaking in an interview with Wontumi Radio/TV, the former minister has described the claims and accompanying videos as “fake and lies”, accounted the difficulties he inherited when he assumed office with regards to the presidential villa and minister’s bungalow during his tenure.
According to Osei-Mensah, the NDC’s accusations are unfounded and misleading. He attributed the state of the bungalow to budget constraints, implying that his administration did not have the necessary funds to maintain the property
He said, a GH¢1.5 million debt overhang, damaged cars, antiquated office supplies, a dilapidated administration building, and insufficient staff housing are some challenges that affected the facilities.
He explained that a damaged Toyota truck that was just captured on camera had been in an accident in 2014, before he was hired.
He added that parts of the videos are not the realities on the grounds, admitting the fact that he has made several efforts to fix the structure but the cost involed.
He also described the actions taken to fix the administration block, including obtaining central government backing for a six-story building project that is presently being built and funding improvements using the ARCC budget. He applied for government help, but only received a portion of it, and used his own money for small repairs on the residential structures.
“Neither the ARCC nor I would intentionally allow state assets to deteriorate,” Osei-Mensah said in response to allegations of negligence in a report by citinewsroom.com.