ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BOLE GUEST HOUSE SAGA

In 1975, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana built a Research substation in Bole in the Northern Region of Ghana.
This substation was an addition to two others located in Afosu and Bonsu.

The station in Bole was to focus on research into sheanut and work to develop it as a viable export crop as a supplement to cocoa.

Later the mandate was expanded to cover crops suitable for cultivation in the Northern Savannah zone and therefore Cashew was included as research subject for the station.

As part of the Research station an 8 self contained room guest house was built.

The guest house was to provide decent accomodation for researchers who visited to conduct study into any of the areas under its mandate. The accommodation was also available to Cocobod officials on trek in the Northern part of the country.

Because of the lack of suitable hotel accomodation in that part of the country and the previously poor nature of the Bole-Bamboi road, Cocobod decided to commercialize the guest house and made it generally available, if it was not in use by their research staff, to both PUBLIC and private clients at a fee.

Because of the poor state of the guest house after 42 years of use, and the increasing demand for decent accomodation in the Bole area, the governing board of Cocobod last year took a decision to upgrade and refurbish the guest house.

The project covered complete remodelling, renovation and landscaping of the guest house. In addition it was decided to add an additional block to the guest house to expand the number of rooms available for use from 8 to 13 self contained rooms. An additional 4 self contained rooms were also added as an out house for junior staff. This project was commenced last year and has not been completed yet because of the new administration refusal to pay the contractor.

The press statement by the CEO of Cocobod gave the impression that a guest house did not exist in Bole and President Mahama influenced Cocobod to built one for his own comfort. The fact is that Cocobod has always had a guest house at the Bole Research Station from as far back as 1975, and what Cocobod did was to refurbish and expand the guest house with an additional block to make more rooms available to its clients.

Ex-President Mahama has lived in the old Cocoa Research Station guest house anytime he visited Bole especially during the time when his father’s house was under renovation and during the period when he was building his own house in the town. Ex-President Mahama has never lived in the new facility and doesn’t need to because his own house has been completed and is arguably of a similar standard as the Cocoa guest house.

It’s obvious that the motivation of the Cocobod CEO was to attempt to scandalize President Mahama by creating an impression in the minds of the Public that Ex-President Mahama had forced Cocobod to build a guest house at the research station which did not exist before, for his private use and comfort. That impression is absolutely misplaced.