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Liberian Officials Scramble Over Homes in Ghana
With Liberia crumbling in the face of UN sanctions and
a new rebel war, President Charles Taylor and his
officials have embarked upon buying homes in the sub
region, particularly Accra, Ghana. Blessed with wealth
from Sierra Leone’s diamonds and the disappearing
forest, and living with uncertainty, Taylor and his
team are investing in Ghana, the home of over 30,000
Liberian refugees languishing in refugee camps while
their leaders are purchasing fabulous homes around
them. “There is an open system of making money in this
country”, Taylor defended himself recently.
President Taylor, who spent time in Ghanaian prison
for prior to launching his rebellion, now has two
luxurious and well-furnished houses in one of Accra’s
plush areas, McCartay Hills. The building, well
fenced and protected, is housing some of his family
members.
Grace Minor, Taylor’s secretary when he served as
state purchasing agent and now Senior Senator of
Montserrado County, has also purchased a house in Osu,
another plush area in Accra. Besides, the senator also
owns a consultancy firm in Osu. The firm is said to be
managed by one Mr. Morgan, and assisted by the
senator’s sister, Comfort Minor. Comfort has
reportedly travelled to Switzerland, a country known
for banking money for Africa’s corrupt dictators. A
European paper, The Times, estimates Taylor’s wealth
at $2.8b
Foreign Minister Monie Captan, Ms Minor,s
son-in-law, has a well-furnished residential building
in the Accra commercial center of Makola. The family
is also said to be owning business in which electrical
appliances and other commodities are sold.
Information Minister Reginal Goodrich, owns a home
in Tema, while the head of the lucrative Maritime
business, Benoni Urey, who recently set-up a $2m
telephone company in Monrovia, owns a home in . North
Kanishie, Accra. The Assistant Minister of National
Defence for Public Affairs Phiplibert Browne, has a
home in the same area.
Thomas Woewiyu, Taylor’s wartime defence spokesman
and one of the main leaders of the rebel National
Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) now a Senator, has a
luxurious home in Accra. Maxwell Kaba, a former
Minister of Post and Telecommunication has a poultry
farm in Accra.
Other former and present officials with properties in
Accra include Philip Kamah, Minister of National
Security, who owns a house in Adenta, an Accra
suburb; Grand Bass Senator, Thomas Woeyiwu and former
councilman Oscar Quiah each has a house in Adenta.
But Accra is not only attractive to the current
rulers. Several past warlords and their lieutenants
allegedly bought homes in the Ghanaian capital. George
E.S. Boley, former leader of the armed faction the
Liberia Peace Council, is said to own a home in Tema.
The building was allegedly bought in 1993. Reports say
Dr. Boley frequently visits Ghana. His associate,
Weade Korbah Wreh, also owns a home in the area.
Prior to his assassination by President Taylor’s
bodyguards, opposition politician Samuel Saye Dokie
bought an estate building in Adenta, suburb of Accra.
Some of his family members are accordingly living in
the building. Dokie, his wife Mrs. Janet Dahn-Dokie,
and two others were cold-bloodedly murdered on
November 28,1997 on the alleged orders of Special
Security Service (SSS) director Benjamin Yeatan.
Roosevelt Johnson, former leader of ULIMO-J reportedly
bought a house in Adenta. Johnson is said to have
bought the house in 1995.
Owning properties in Ghana does not require obtaining
resident of work permit unless if an individual wishes
to do so. With money and the readiness foreigners can
own properties in Ghana provided they would abide by
the country’s laws.
Views sampled among Liberian refugees point outrage.
“They send in refugee camps, steal our money, and buy
homes here. This is why they killed 250,000 people.
This is their definition of democracy and development.
They steal to enrich other societies while their
people languish in refugee camps. Only God can help us
correct this imbalance”, said a University student now
living in a one-room refugee hut.
”We thought the people came to effect positive
changes; behold they came to enrich themselves. Hope
the international community will do something about
people who squandered the country’s resources to
develop other countries only because they can find
peace of mind outside Liberia,” said a former
Government official on condition anonymity.
The Liberian population in Ghana has been steadily
growing since the outbreak of the country’s
catastrophic war in 1989. Prior to this, few
Liberians, mainly students, lived here. When West
African force ECOMOG established security in Monrovia,
the refugee camps were virtually empty. But they were
over-flooded in 1996 when Taylor and Aljahi Kromah
sparked new rounds of fighting in the city with the
backing of ECOMOG. Over 3000 people were killed. Many
refugees who returned home left for Accra and other
refugee camps. Since the election, contrary to hopes
of mass return home, there has been a mass exodus.
By Abbas Dulleh, Accra Ghana Published 6/6/01
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