....At International Student Hostel Chief Of Staff,
... Kwodwo Mpiani Fingered In Plot To ‘Steal’ Ministry’s Land

Barring any last minute hitch, the International Students’ Hostel in Accra would today come tumbling down, bringing to a crashing end an epoch in the country’s educational history.

However, even as the International Students’ Hostel would comes tumbling down today, concerns are being raised over the huhudious manner in which the Lands Commission has taken over the land on which the hostel is sited, and its reallocation to some private developers.

Initially earmarked for the construction of what officials of the Foreign Ministry say was to be “an ultra-modern Ministry complex to house the Foreign Ministry”, the site of the International Students’ Hostel has been mysteriously taken over from the Foreign Ministry by the Lands Commission and reallocated to some yet-to-be identified private developers.

Investigations by this reporter indicate that plans to construct the ultra-modern Foreign Ministry at the site of the International Students’ Hostel were in very advanced stage, as the Chinese Prime Minister was said to have promised Chinese financing for the project.

Foreign Ministry sources have told this reporter that following the commitment of the Chinese government to finance the project, bid for tender for the construction of the new Ministry was opened, and the construction firm, Arab Contractors, won the bid and was awarded the contract for the job.

“Inexplicably, just as the contractors were preparing to move to the site to start working on the new ministry building, the Lands Commission set in and said that it has allocated the site to some private developers,” a senior official at the Foreign Ministry lamented to this reporter.

According to the official, the Ministry is at a loss as to how the Land Commission could take possession of a land that has always been the property of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since the late Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah acquired the place and gave it to the Foreign Ministry.

“The more we try to get to the bottom of this matter, the more we are frustrated,” the official complained. “Everything we are hearing points to Mr. Kwodwo Mpiani, the Chief of Staff at the Presidency, as the architect of the move to deprive the Ministry of this prime property. But nobody is giving us any official explanations as to why the land has suddenly been taken away from the Ministry,” the official complained.

“Having virtually exhausted all lines of quiet official enquiries without getting to the bottom of the matter, while those who are determined to deprive the Ministry of its rightful possession are going full-steam ahead, some of us believe that it is about time that we made the matter public so as to invite the good people of Ghana to bring pressure to bear on those who want to use their official positions to take what is not for them,” the official stated.

“We are also appealing to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs to take an interest in this matter with a view to righting the wrong that is being perpetrated against the Ministry and, by extension, the people of Ghana,” the official appealed.

While the demolition may well take place today, The Ghanaian Lens has committed itself to following this matter to its logical conclusion. Stay tuned.