NDC youth besiege Jake’s bungalow; Vow to stop takeover

Angry youth of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) yesterday besieged the Number 2 Mango Street government bungalow bought by the Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, when he was a minister of state.
The bungalow is currently being occupied by the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, who is expected to hand over the keys to the Public Works Department before it is handed to its new owner.

This follows a High Court order that the property be handed over to the NPP chairman who had bought the bungalow under a redevelopment policy introduced in the 1990s.

But the irate NDC youth have vowed to resist any attempt to hand over the bungalow to Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey, who bought the bungalow in 2008, after occupying it for eight years as minister under the Kufuor administration.

According to myjoyonline, Chief Baba, who led the chanting angry youth to the residence, said they would resist any attempt to hand over the bungalow to Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey.

Background

The bungalow was allocated to Mr Vanderpuye, then a presidential staffer, when the NDC took the reins of governance in 2009.

In 2008, to contest Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey’s ownership of the property, two members of the NDC, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (now Deputy Minister of Education) and Dr Edward Omane Boamah (now Communications Minister), took the matter to the Supreme Court, challenging the propriety of the sale of the bungalow.

They accused Jake of dabbling in conflict of interest and abuse of office.

On May 23, 2012, the court ruled in favour of Obetsebi-Lamptey, throwing out the conflict of interest, cronyism and arbitrariness levelled against the NPP chairman.

A High Court subsequently ordered the release of the bungalow to Obetsebi-Lamptey.

But myjoyonline reported that the NDC youth claimed they would resist any attempt by the PWD to hand over the keys to Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey.

Daily Graphic/Ghana