The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, has refuted claims that the residence of a sitting clerk of parliament was sold in 2019.
Clarifying a statement from the Parliamentary Service, which revealed that the residence was sold in 2019 to a private developer, Mr. Jinapor said it was instead sold in 2015.
The statement also disclosed that similar outcomes befell other properties allotted to parliament.
Speaking on the floor of parliament, the minister said his checks at the Lands Commission revealed that the developer only took possession of the land in 2019 after buying it in 2015.
“Not too long ago, it was said that the accommodation of the clerk of parliament was sold in 2019. Mr Speaker, I want to submit to this house, the house of records, that my checks at the Lands Commission suggest that the clerk of parliament’s accommodation or residence was sold in 2015 and not 2019. The then Minister of Works and Housing gave an offer to a private developer in 2015.
“A lease was granted to the developer in 2015. These records are unimpeachable. It happened in 2015, not 2019. It just so happened that the developer, having bought the land in 2015, hadn’t been given an offer letter in 2015 and took possession in 2019,” the minister stressed.
This comes after the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Bagbin, alleged that his residence was almost sold to a private developer while still living there.
Mr Bagbin, in a statement, said that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Works and Housing, and the Lands Commission have not tackled the subject matter of the alleged sale.