Acting Administrator of the Minerals Development Fund, Dr Hanna Louisa Bisiw
The Acting Administrator of the Minerals Development Fund, Dr Hanna Louisa Bisiw, has opened up about some of the supposed rots she has found at the fund since assuming office.
Speaking in an interview on Metro TV on April 24, 2025, Dr Bisiw said that she found that the fund, under the previous government, paid a whopping US$1.4 million as rent for its office space to one Kwabena Kufuor, who identified himself as a family relation of former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
She said that the amount paid to the owner of the property shows that it had been rented for US$10,000 per month, which was way above the market rate for such a small facility.
“This is a fund that actually paid US$1.4 million for rent of the office… It’s a cubicle, actually, and directors have their files on the floor. The one who rented it twice is called Kwabena Kufuor; he is President Kufuor’s nephew… He told me himself when they came begging me. And I thought it belonged to us. Even though it’s small, it’s something we could have worked on.
“They first paid rent for two years — that is, I think 2020 or 2021… They did for two years, they were paying US$10,000 a month,” she narrated.
She added; “Right now, when you check a prime area, better than where we are in that same environment, it is US$6,500 a month. So, it means that it was a rip-off.”
Dr Bisiw, who is also the National Women Organiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), said that upon resumption of office, she was informed that the fund had leased the property for another 12 years, which cost it about US$9,600 this time around.
She said that she was astonished by the development and made the decision not to use the office space.
“When I came, and they said now they subleased it for 12 more years, and they quoted it in dollars. The payment was in cedi, so you have to pay the dollar equivalent. Why did they quote it in dollars? Because if they say, let’s say $1 million, it means that if you are going to pay tomorrow, it has to be the cedi equivalent of that dollar.
“So, they paid them for 12 years, and when you calculate, it means that per month, it is $9,600 now, and they paid everything… $500,000 could have bought a land or a government property, and this was a government bungalow,” he said.
She added that she had taken the decision to use every legal means to take back the 12 years’ rent that had been supposedly paid to Kwabena Kufuor.
She also claimed that the self-acclaimed nephew of the former president came to her office and offered her money to stop her from looking into the payment of the rent.
“When I told them that I was not going to use this place, and I would use every means possible to take it, this Kwabena Kufuor came to my office and put money on my table, and I asked him what that money was for. He told me it was commission… I took the money and reported the money,” she said.
Dr Bisiw added that this Kwabena Kufuor told her that if she accepted his offer, he would confide in her on how workers of the company operated on the basis of commission.
Watch the interview below:
Kwabena Kufuor, a nephew of former President John Agyekum Kufuor attempted to bribe me with $10,000 as a share of an inflated rent payment- Administrator of minerals development fund, Dr. Hanna Louisa Bisiw alleges#GoodAfternoonGhana #MetroTV pic.twitter.com/rnMjfAXn4x
— Metro TV Ghana (@metrotvgh) April 24, 2025
BAI/AE
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