Speaker Alban Bagbin has denied saying that his official residence was sold to a private developer.
He said the residence was ‘almost sold’.
His comments come after the Lands Commission dismissed reports that the official residence was almost sold earlier this year.
While speaking at the Speaker‘s Breakfast Forum in Accra on Monday, November 20, Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin indicated that his 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.
“Luckily, I was inside, so it was saved,” he added.
But in a sharp response, the Commission says 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”.
This application, according to the Commission, was approved by its regional secretariat after all statutory processes including planning approval from the La Dadekotopon Assembly were completed.
The response issued by the Acting Executive Secretary Ing. Ben Arthur said the Commission made an offer of allocation to the Parliamentary Service on Tuesday, February 14.
It said the Service accepted the offer and after paying the requisite fees was issued with a Certificate of Allocation.
“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.”
But in a press release reacting to the Commission’s statement, the Director of the Media Relations Department at the Office of the Speaker, David Sebastian Damoah said “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.
“A visit to the official residence of Rt. Hon. Speaker will unveil that almost all 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.
“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. We are encouraged by the decision of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources to investigate this matter and hope the investigations will establish who attempted to sell, and who the potential buyer was.
“Transparency in this matter is of utmost importance for the sake of public confidence in state institutions.”