Osei-Mensah refutes claims of presidential villa neglect, cites budget challenges
Simon Osei-Mensah, a former regional minister for Ashanti, has refuted claims that he purposefully neglected the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council’s (ARCC) Regional Minister’s Bungalow and Presidential Villa.
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.
On Monday, January 13, Osei-Mensah described the difficulties he inherited when he assumed office on February 22, 2017.
He listed the following as the main problems: a GH¢1.5 million debt overhang, damaged cars, antiquated office supplies, a dilapidated administration building, and insufficient staff housing.
Osei-Mensah claimed that in order to manage the debt, he personally provided funding for the ARCC’s activities for more than six months prior to the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF). By the end of his term on January 6, 2025, he declared the ARCC debt-free and imposed stringent spending constraints.
Speaking about the condition of government cars, Osei-Mensah disclosed that he spent months using his own land cruiser because the majority of them were either unreliable or ran out of fuel.
He explained that a damaged Toyota truck that was just captured on camera had been in an accident in 2014, before he was hired.
Osei-Mensah highlighted efforts to modernize the ARCC, including replacing obsolete office equipment with items such as air conditioners, laptops, desktops, refrigerators, and office furniture.
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.
He ascribed the difficulties to budgetary limitations outside of the ARCC’s control and reaffirmed his resolve to address these problems while he is in office.
