The Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Patricia Appiagyei has been defending the 500 million cedis recently spent on the renovation of her official residence.

A report in the Public Agenda newspaper says residents in Kumasi are questioning the expenditure when, less than three years ago, her predecessor, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, spent 1.2 billion cedis on the renovation of the same residence.

But, speaking on JOY FM’s Super Morning Show, Madam Patricia said the amount spent is small considering the previous state of the residence. Appiagyei explained “when I assumed duty, I was approached by my estate department that there’s the need to hire a new place for me because the state of deterioration at the official residence is so bad that if I have to wait till the ruin of it, they are going to spend sometime before I can move in”.

“I was going to speak to the regional coordinating council and probably allow me to stay where I am at the moment for a while because the money which they are going to use to rent a house before they renovate the place can easily do the same job so far as renovation is concerned.”
The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly has come under criticism in recent times over its expenditures. It was publicly criticized for using over 950 million cedis for a decongestion exercise which was widely described as unsuccessful.
The Assembly again came under intense public criticism when 1.5 billion cedis was used for a one day clean-up exercise earlier this year.