The Director of the Media Relations Department at the Office of the Speaker, David Sebastian Damoah, has reacted to some untruth around the purported sale of the official residence of the speaker of Parliament.
This comes after Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin while speaking at the Speaker‘s Breakfast Forum in Accra on Monday, November 20, revealed that his official residence was almost sold to a private developer.
“Many of you don’t know that even the residence of the Speaker was almost sold to the private sector,” the former MP for Nadowli- Kaleo Constituency said.
“Actually, it was given out. It was when they went to register that the Lands Commission identified that that was the residence of the Speaker.
Lands Commission quickly dismissed reports that the official residence of the speaker was almost sold earlier this year.
The Commission said the land on which the residence is situated has since 2003 been officially for the Speaker of Ghana‘s Parliament.
But it said in 2022, the Parliamentary Service applied for a Certificate of Allocation “to regularise their occupation of the land”.
“The Lands Commission is, therefore, unaware of any purported sale of the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament’s official residence to a private developer…The Commission wishes to reiterate its commitment to the prudent and efficient management of public lands in the national interest, and promote effective land administration that is anchored on the highest standards of integrity, transparency and candour,” a statement from the Lands Commission said.
After the event some online portals reported that the speaker had said that his official residence had been sold.
In a statement, the Director of the Media Relations Department at the Office of the Speaker, David Sebastian Damoah, said the Speaker did not say that his official residence was sold to a private developer.
“It must be noted that, Mr. Speaker stated the attempt at selling his official residence, which he made reference to during the Speaker’s Breakfast Forum in Accra, on Monday 20th November 2023.
The potential buyer proceeded to the Lands Commission for the necessary due diligence and realised the status of the property. That was when Mr. Speaker got to know about it. We also wish to state as follows: The Rt. Hon. Speaker did not say that the Speaker’s official residence had been sold. What he said was that it was almost sold.”
“The reactions by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Works and Housing and the Lands Commission so far have not tackled the subject matter of the alleged sale,” excerpts of the statement read.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu
