We’ve not signed agreement for Norway Chancery – Foreign Affairs ministry

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has denied signing an agreement for the procurement of a Chancery and Ambassador’s Residence for its mission in Norway.

The Ministry in a statement copied to citinewsroom.com said although it has expressed interest in some properties in Norway, it is yet to enter into an agreement with the owners of the properties, contrary to claims by the minority in Parliament.

The Minority in Parliament, led by its Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa leveled claims of cost inflation against the ministry over the conversion of a 100-year-old 6-bedroom house in Oslo Norway, into Ghana’s new mission in Norway.

Ablakwa alleged that the property was bought by a certain woman for $2.9 million in 2014 and sold to an unknown buyer for $3.5 million in August 2017, and so it was surprising that the ministry in a presentation to the Foreign Affairs committee said it was purchasing the same building for $12.2 million in 2018.

He therefore urged the Speaker, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, to admit a document he presented to back his claims of an inflated contract, but the Speaker ruled that the evidence is not admissible because the documents are not verifiable.

The sector minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, denied the allegations on the floor of Parliament, saying the Ministry had already backtracked on that particular property and wad looking elsewhere.

source: citinewsroom