Speaker Bagbin Calls Out Lands Commission Over Attempted Sale of His Residence

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Alban Bagbin, has publicly called out the Lands Commission and other stakeholders for their evasion and lack of transparency in addressing concerns about the attempted sale of his official residence at Cantonments.

In a press statement, the Speaker clarified that the residence was not sold but was undergoing the processes for sale when its status was revealed to the buyer.

“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.”

It also confirmed that similarly in 2019, residences reserved for the Parliamentary Service personnel have fallen into the hands of private developers.

“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 a similar fate.”

Background

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin during a breakfast meeting on Monday, November 20, disclosed his official residence at Cantonments in Accra was almost sold out.

According to him, the Lands Commission identified it as his residence during registration.

“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 is when they went to register that the Lands Commission identified that that, it’s the residence of the speaker. Luckily I was inside so it was safe,” he said.

But the Lands Commission in a statement emphasised that it was “unaware of any purported sale of the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament’s official residence to a private developer”.