WE OWN “JESUS AND MARY” SCHOOL - Mrs. Isabella Poku
Mrs. Isabella Poku, wife of Mr. Francis Poku, Minister of National Security and until recently National Security Coordinator, has admitted ownership of “Jesus and Mary” School in response to a question “Who owns Jesus and Mary” school in our last edition of Friday, July 14, 2006. Mrs. Isabella Poku. who granted an interview to “The Ghana Palaver”, said she owns the school which she started in 2002 on her arrival from London where she had been a teacher.
Mrs. Poku giving the background to the establishment of the school said, she is a trained Teacher and taught for 13 years in many schools, the last one being “Christ The King” school from 1977 to 1982 before she left the country with her husband.
In London, she retrained as Educationist at the University of Hertfordshire, from where she came out with a second class Bed honours in Education.
Mrs. Poku said after her University education, she taught at Asquith Court School at Windsor, a school attended by the British Royals and so was regarded as one of the most prestigious and expensive schools in London.
She said the idea to set up the school was from her former school in Windsor, which had facilities and environment that promote the well being of the children and so “I decided to bring the same idea to Ghana hence “Jesus and Mary” school.
“It is also my love for children that strengthen my desire to start the school” she added.
Mrs. Poku denied the building was a hurriedly built house and said the building is an old building she bought with her husband in 1976 but was confiscated and released to her in 1993 by the then President, Jerry John Rawlings.
The building, according to her, had been occupied by the CDRs in the days of the PNDC; it was also used by the proprietor of “African Child” school in Achimota and had also been used during the period it was under confiscation, by three churches.
Mrs. Isabella Poku said since whatever money she brought from London wasn’t enough to set up the school and she would need some loan from her bankers, she caused a valuation to be done on the building by a Real Estate Agents known as Valuation And Allied Services in North Kaneshie on Palace Street.
In a report signed by Mr. Sammy N. Bekoe, a Valuation Officer, the building with all its contents were valued at ¢1,505,000,000.00 and that is what was used as a collateral for a loan from the First Atlantic Merchant Bank Limited, she said.
Mrs. Poku produced a report chronicling the schools transaction with the bank since May 2002 when the school opened an account with it.
The Bank gave a summary of the school’s facilities as follows:-
Facility Amount Int.Rate Value Expiry Outstanding
Date Date Balance
MTL 1 ¢600m 26% p.a. 11-Oct-05 31-May-08 ¢487,500,000
MTL 2 ¢558m 26% p.a 11-Oct-05 31-May-08 ¢385,125,000
MTL 3 ¢1Bn 26% p.a 01-Feb-06 30-Sept-08 ¢888,000,000
The bank has so far granted a total of ¢2,587,638,055.55 to the school, with a debt balance of ¢827,013,055.55 on its current account.
The School currently with a population of about 400 children and 40 members of staff, charges between ¢1,400,000 and ¢1,500,000 as school fees.
When contacted, Mr. Francis Poku affirmed that nobody is above the law but he respect the rights of his wife and children to be allowed to lead their personal lives once they do not break the laws of the country and hoped they will be well treated by the media and that their own successes in life should be respected.
