The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has told Parliament that the residence of the current Clerk-to-Parliament was sold to a private developer in 2015 and not 2019.
He said his checks at the Lands Commission showed that the said land was given out during the previous administration.
“The then Minister of Works and Housing gave an offer to a private developer in 2015 and a lease was granted in the 2015,” he said.
Unimpeachable records
Contributing to a debate for the House to approve the motion on the 2024 Budget Statement on the floor of Parliament Thursday (Nov 23), Mr Jinapor said, “these records at the Lands Commission is unimpeachable as it happened in 2015.”
“It just so happened that the developer, having bought the land in 2015 and having been given an offer letter in 2015 and having been granted a lease in 2015 took possession in 2019.”
“To all intent and purposes, the land was sold in 2015,” he told the House.
Background
Attached below is a breakdown of what the Minister presented to Parliament
ALLEGED SALE OF SPEAKER’S RESIDENCE AND THE RESIDENCE OF CLERK OF PARLIAMENT
THE FACTS
- As the Lands Commission indicated in its earlier Press Release, the land in question is a public land acquired by the State since 1920. As a public land, no person, other than the Lands Commission, has the right to make any grant, sale, or lease of the said property;
- At no point in time has the Lands Commission sold, or attempted to sell, the official residence of the Rt. Hon. Speaker. On the contrary, the Commission has taken steps to regularise the interest of the Parliamentary Service in the said property, by granting a Certificate of Allocation to the Service on 28th April, 2023;
- Neither the Rt. Hon. Speaker, nor the Parliamentary Service, has made any complaint to the Lands Commission about a purported and/or attempted sale of the official residence of the Rt. Hon. Speaker. The Commission first became aware of the said allegation following the ongoing media discourse on the subject matter;
- The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources has, subsequently, directed the Commission to investigate the matter, and submit a report to him, accordingly. The Commission will, therefore, respectfully, formally communicate to the Parliamentary Service to seek its assistance in the ongoing investigations;
- In respect of the other properties adjoining the Speaker’s property, the Commission wishes to clarify that the Cantoments Residential Area, where the Speaker’s official residence is located, was earmarked for redevelopment as far back as 1995, under Government’s Redevelopment Agenda, and several lands in the area has since 1995 been leased to private developers for this purpose;
- It must be noted that the Speaker’s official residence was designated as such in the year 2003, after the original official residence of the Speaker was de-confiscated and returned to the original owner. The then Speaker of Parliament, therefore, moved to the area after the said redevelopment had commenced in 1995, at the time some of these lands had already been leased to private developers;
- On the specific allegation of the Clerk of Parliament’s accommodation being sold in 2019, records at the Lands Commission indicates that the property in question, House No. 90, Sixth Circular Road, Cantoments, was granted to a private developer in the year 2015, by a letter from the Ministry of Works and Housing, dated 23rd June, 2015, as part of the Accra Properties Redevelopment Scheme. Subsequent to the said letter, a lease dated 18th August, 2015, was granted to the private developer over the said property;
- For the avoidance of doubt, the said property was not sold in 2019, but rather in 2015;
SOURCE: GRAPHICONLINE
