Samuel Abdulai Jinapor
Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, has disclosed that the official residence of the Clerk to Parliament, located at Cantonments in Accra, was sold to a private developer during the NDC administration.
He was responding to a statement released by the Parliamentary Service that the Clerk’s official residence was sold to a private developer in 2019, while debating the 2024 budget on the floor of Parliament yesterday.
According to a statement issued by the Parliamentary Service and signed by David Sebastian Damoah, Director of Media Relations, a visit to the Speaker’s official residence will “unveil that almost all of the surrounding buildings and accompanying parcels of land have been sold out to private developers.”
“High-rise apartments have been constructed all around, leaving the Speaker’s residence as an island and endangering the safety and security of the Rt. Hon. Speaker,” the statement noted.
It added, “A trip down memory lane reveals that sometime in 2019, the official accommodation of a sitting Clerk to Parliament located in Cantonments was sold to a private developer. Other properties assigned to Parliament have suffered similar fate.”
Rebuttal
However, the minister has strenuously refuted the Parliamentary Service’s assertions, stating that his checks at the Lands Commission indicated that the NDC government sold the Clerk to Parliament’s official residence in 2015.
“Mr. Speaker, the then Minister for Works and Housing gave an offer to a private developer in 2015. A lease was granted to the developer in 2015. These records are unimpeachable. It happened in 2015 and not in 2019,” he asserted.
According to Mr. Jinapor, the developer took possession in 2019 despite having purchased the land in 2015, issued an offer letter and granted a lease in 2015.
“So by all intent and purposes, the land was sold in 2015,” he intimated.
The minister again debunked claims that the UNESCO building which houses its offices have been sold out.
“I want to submit, Mr. Speaker, first of all, I will respectfully advise that we should be careful in making sweeping statements that the UNESCO building has been sold.
“When you get into the records in many cases, as it always should be in land administration, it is governed by facts and records,” he said.
Mr. Jinapor stated that the sale of a particular parcel of land can only be ascertained through facts and records.
“Mr. Speaker, respectfully, I’m not too sure that anybody will quarrel with me or doubt that the repository of the records for lands in our country by law or the constitution is vested in the Lands Commission,” he argued.
According to him, there have been many occasions where it is said that the UNESCO land has been sold.
“I want to put it on record that UNESCO is still occupying its office premises close to the police headquarters. So the claim that UNESCO land or UNESCO building has been sold is false,” he noted.
Turn Corner
Meanwhile, the minister has said the government has turned the corner and will soon unleash prosperity on Ghanaians.
“Just yesterday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of UK, Jeremy Hunt, presented the autumn budget in the House of Commons and it is similar to our budget.
“This is the direction the world is going. We are turning the curve, we are having the recovery and we are going to unleash prosperity, and God willing, when Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia becomes president in 2025, he will build on the record of President Akufo-Addo and we will unleash prosperity for the Ghanaian people,” he intimated.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House