Speaker’s residence was never sold – Lands Commission

The Lands Commission has denied claims suggesting the residence of the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has been sold to a private developer.

Alban Bagbin had earlier revealed that his Cantonments residence was sold to a private developer while he was still residing in it.

He was speaking at the Speaker’s Breakfast Forum at the Swiss Spirit Alisa Hotel in Accra, on Monday (20 November).

“Many of you don’t know that even the residence of the speaker was almost sold to the private sector. Actually it was given out. It was when they went to register that the Lands Commission identified that that is the residence of the Speaker. Luckily, I was inside, so it was saved,” he said.

“Ghana’s start of democratic journey is known to all and needs no further mention. This largely affected the development of parliamentary democracy. Unlike the executive and the judicial arms of government, we have had to be a number of times and we lost almost all our properties. So, we are now struggling to get even our lands for us to be able to put up some structures to accommodate parliament,” he added.

However, a statement issued by the Lands Commision on Monday (20 November) said the Commission is unaware of any purported sale of the property.

“The Lands Commission has become aware of reports in some sections of the media suggesting that Rt Honourable Speaker of Parliament’s official residence in Cantonment has been sold to a private developer.”

“The Commission wishes to state emphatically, that at no point in time was the said property sold to a private developer by the Lands Commission,” the statement said.

Source: Daily Mail GH