Ministry of Works and Housing has refuted allegation by the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong that it has sold the official residence of a deceased Supreme Court judge, Justice Samuel Marful-Sau.
Mr Agyapong had alleged that there was a collusion between a former Chief Justice and the Sector Minister to sell the official residence of the late Justice Samuel Marful-Sau.
“The Ministry strongly refutes the allegation and states that there has been no such sale of the property. The facts are that, the current developments taking place at the official residence of the late Justice Marful-Sau forms part of the Government Redevelopment Programme (GRP). The GRP, which dates as far back as 1992, has since its inception, been widely implemented by successive Governments within the Greater Accra Region, specifically in Kanda, Cantonments, West Ridge and Roman Ridge,” a press release issued by the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry dated January 14, stated.
The Ministry recalled that, “On 14th May 2018, Cabinet approved a revised scheme regarding the GRP to include other neighborhoods such as Osu Ringway, Airport Residential Area and Labone. The GRP was necessitated by the need to find residential accommodation in Accra for the ever growing number of public and civil servants.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, the said land has not been sold as it is mischievously being alleged and remains the property of the State. The GRP is rather a cost-effective undertaking which ultimately gives optimal benefit and ensures efficient use of government lands,” the Ministry stressed.
According to the Ministry, “The program is underpinned by the philosophy to optimize government’s prime lands located within old run-down neighbourhoods of Accra and other major cities in the country. The objectives of the Programme are, to among others: i. Achieve higher and optimum densities in prime areas and ensure efficient utilization of existing infrastructure. ii. Contribute to the positive impact of the growth of our major cities by mitigating the rapid horizontal sprawl. iii. Achieve a significant increase in the total stock of both government and private residential properties countrywide and iv. Improve the urban context and neighbourhood characteristics of the old residential properties in our major cities.”
The Ministry further noted that, “The Programme has since positively contributed to the growth of these prime neighbourhoods, which currently serve as accommodation for a greater number of public sector workers than before. In tandem with the GRP, the Ministry continues to discharge its mandate to provide housing to public sector workers.”
Currently, the Ministry said it is “redeveloping four (4) of such structures which sit on about three acres of land in Roman Ridge, which formerly served as official residences for a late Supreme Court Justice; an Appeals Court Judge, a Minister of State and a retired Chief Director. Upon completion of this particular redevelopment, the three (3) acre land will now have 20 housing units for Ministers and other senior government officials and 4 units for Superior Court Justices.”
The press release stated that, “A memorandum of understanding for this arrangement with the Judicial Service has since been signed by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Works and Housing and the Judicial Secretary.”