'President Mahama ordered demolition of my son's Polo Beach Club' – Freddie Blay alleges

Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman Freddie Blay has alleged that President John Dramani Mahama personally ordered the demolition of the Polo Beach Club, a business owned by his son, at the La Beach enclave. Freddie Blay made the allegation during an interview on Channel One TV’s The Big Issue on October 3, 2026, on the sidelines of the NPP’s National Delegates Congress and National Officers’ Elections. “I feel sorry. It is one of the complaints that I think people should hear against the NDC government and against President John Mahama, that he himself ordered it. I know,” he said. According to Blay, the demolition should not have taken place because the ownership dispute involving the property was still pending before the courts. “The court is yet to determine it. Then you complain to the President and the President orders that they should go and break it. He [Mahama] has no respect for law,” he said. The real reason behind the structures demolished at the Labadi beachfront He said the disagreement between his son’s business and the Labadi Beach Hotel had been the subject of a legal dispute for approximately two to three years, with the court yet to issue a final ruling. Blay also dismissed assertions that the Polo Beach Club was occupying the property illegally, arguing that his son had acquired the land through a lease from the La Stool. “My son has acquired land from the La Stool and did business on the land that belongs to the La Stool originally. They’ve leased it out. And we are working on it,” he said. He further questioned why the President and National Security would become involved in the matter while the ownership dispute remained unresolved in court. Blay also challenged the legal justification for deploying security personnel to demolish the structure, insisting that such an action should be backed by a court order. “Is that law? Is that what is done in the country? Unless the court gives the order,” he said. The Polo Beach Club and the adjoining La Pleasure Beach were demolished on October 2, 2026, by security personnel under the supervision of National Security after the Labadi Beach Hotel requested the exercise. The demolition was not connected to the government’s separate flood-mitigation exercise around the Kpeshie Lagoon. The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) said the clearance was aimed at addressing alleged unlawful occupation and encroachment along the beachfront while protecting its investments in the Labadi Beach Hotel and La Palm Royal Beach Hotel. Inside Ghana’s Abandoned Engineering Powerhouse: What Went Wrong? AK/MASource: www.ghanaweb.com
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