'I bought 2 of 13 ACs with my own money' – Former Maritime boss

The former Director-General of the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), Mr Kwame Owusu, has revealed that he used his own money to buy two of the 13 air-conditioners that were fixed at his official residence during his tenure.

“With the 13 air-conditioners, in order not to let the public have an outcry, the one that you [Paul Adom Otchere, who had gone to see the place] saw in the kitchen was purchased by me; my own cash, and just like any other thing I took there, and one other air-conditioner. And, so, two of them were paid for by me and eleven were paid for by the Authority”, Mr Owusu told Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana programme when he appeared as a guest to speak about the controversial GHS1 million renovation and expansion of a two-bedroom colonial-style property into a modern five-bedroom edifice.

The total cost of the building, Mr Owusu revealed, was “GHS998,000, about USD200,000”.

Also, he said the other eleven ACs fixed by the GMA in the D-G’s official residence cost GHS23,910.

Prior to the construction of its own official residence, the GMA, according to Mr Owusu, had always had to rent a private property for its pasts Directors-General.

Mr Owusu came under intense media scrutiny when documents of the renovation got leaked by somebody he described as a “party man who wanted my job”

Apart from the property renovation expenditure, Mr Owusu was also accused of spending some GHS135,000 on an end-of-year party as well as over GS10,000 on lunch for 17 people at a meeting. Those cuisine services were allegedly provided by his own hotel.

Mr Owusu was recently appointed by President Nana Akufo-Addo to chair the Governing Board of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).