A private citizen, Samson Asaki Awingobit, has petitioned President John Dramani Mahama to order an immediate national-security assessment of the US$1.3 billion Sentuo Airport Garden City project over concerns about its proximity to strategic military, defence and aviation installations in Accra.
In the petition, Mr Awingobit acknowledged the importance of foreign investment and private-sector development but argued that the location and scale of the project required additional scrutiny beyond conventional planning and commercial considerations.
The project, launched on September 15, 2026, at 10 Giffard Road, Airport Residential Area, is being developed by Sentuo Group and is expected to include about 582 premium apartments, a 600-room hotel, a 2,500-capacity conference facility, healthcare facilities, a shopping mall, landscaped gardens and parking facilities.
Mr Awingobit said his concerns were not directed at Chinese investment or Sentuo Group but focused specifically on the strategic location, height, scale and security architecture of the proposed development.
According to the petitioner, the project’s proximity to military and security installations along the Giffard Road corridor warrants a comprehensive assessment by Ghana’s security and defence institutions.
He questioned whether the Ghana Armed Forces, Ministry of Defence, National Security, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and other relevant agencies had formally assessed the project’s potential implications for national security.
He argued that the proposed high-rise structures could potentially create elevated vantage points over sensitive government, military and aviation facilities.
Mr Awingobit also raised concerns about the technological infrastructure expected to accompany a development of such scale, including CCTV systems, telecommunications networks, access-control systems, data networks and security-control rooms.
He called for clarity on who would control those systems, who would have access to surveillance facilities, where security data would be stored and what cybersecurity safeguards would be put in place.
The petitioner further called for appropriate mechanisms to vet security personnel, residents, corporate tenants and other occupants of the development.
He urged the government to determine whether Ghanaian security agencies would have appropriate oversight of the complex’s security arrangements once completed.
Mr Awingobit also called for enhanced beneficial-ownership and source-of-funds checks on the project and associated corporate entities, as well as a review of proposed tenancy arrangements.
He said these measures should apply as part of Ghana’s broader security and investment oversight framework and should not be based on the nationality of investors.
In making his case, Mr Awingobit referred to reported cases in Dubai and Cambodia involving properties and commercial facilities that authorities or investigators had subsequently linked to alleged financial crimes, cyber-enabled fraud or money laundering.
He stressed that the examples should not be interpreted as evidence that Chinese-owned properties or Chinese investment were inherently security threats.
Rather, he said they demonstrated the importance of beneficial-ownership checks, tenant screening, financial due diligence, cybersecurity controls and continuous security oversight for major developments.
Among his requests, Mr Awingobit asked President Mahama to suspend further construction activity on the project pending a comprehensive national-security assessment.
He also called for an independent multi-agency review involving the Ministry of Defence, Ghana Armed Forces, National Security, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Ghana Airports Company Limited and other relevant institutions.
The proposed assessment, he said, should examine the project’s height, density, orientation and location, as well as potential visual, electronic or technological access to sensitive installations.
He further called for the findings to be made available to relevant parliamentary oversight committees, subject to legitimate national-security confidentiality requirements.
Mr Awingobit emphasised that his petition was not intended to oppose Chinese investment, foreign direct investment or the Sentuo Group’s legitimate business interests.
“This petition is not anti-China. It is not anti-investment. It is not an objection to foreign direct investment,” he said.
He argued, however, that economic development should be balanced with national-security considerations, particularly where large private developments are located near strategic state assets.
The petitioner therefore urged President Mahama to “take a second look” at the location and strategic implications of the Sentuo Airport Garden City Project before construction reaches a stage where significant modifications could become difficult or costly.
He maintained that the objective was not to reject the investment but to ensure that no development compromises Ghana’s sovereignty, strategic installations or national interests.
