The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) North Tongu and Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, MrSamuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, on Monday accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of buying a property in Oslo, Norway, for the Ghana Mission at an inflated price.
He said the current owner of six-bedroom property being converted into a chancery for Ghana's new mission in Norway, bought it at $3.6 million in 2017, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was procuring the property at $12 million.
Mr Ablakwa, who was contributing to the debate on the approval of budget estimates for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the latest purchase price by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration appeared to inflate the cost of the property by a whopping $8,620,379.
"Records show that a previous buyer Lillian Olsson bought the property in 2014 for 25,250,000 Norwegian Kroner (NOK) equivalent to $3,598,108.
According to Norwegian Financial newspaper known as Finansavisen, Lillian Olsson sold the property in August 2017 to an unknown buyer for BOK 31,000,000 equivalent to $3,598,108.
"Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has made a presentation to Parliament's Select Committee on Foreign Affairs that Ghana is purchasing this same building at a staggering NOK 105,180 000 equivalent to $12,218,487.
He called for a probe of the procurement process because it was fraudulent.
The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, had to suspend sitting for about an hour for the House to consider the authenticity of the documents Mr Ablakwa was relying on.
Confrontation
During the break, there was a near confrontation between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Anyaa/Sowutuom and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, and the NDC MP for Ningo-Prampram, Mr Samuel Nartey George, at the Speaker's lobby in Parliament on Monday.
Ms Botchwey was engaged in heated debate with Mr Ablakwa questioning him why he did not approach her on the issue before bringing the matter to the House.
She said Mr Ablakwa should have asked her whether she knew about it and what measures had been taken about it.
Just as Ms Botchwey and Mr Ablakwa were having the exchanges, Mr George stood at a distance with his phone and filmed the exchanges.
But Ms Botchwey claimed that Mr George was recording the heated exchanges with his phone and so she went towards his direction and raised her hand at MrGeorge.
Mr George started shouting that Ms Botchwey was trying to assault him, and indicated that he would report her conduct to the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye.
The MPs around had to step in to prevent the Ms Botchwey and Mr Georege from engaging in fisticuffs.
Speaking with journalists at a press conference later, Ms Botchwey denied attempting to assault Mr George and indicated that the raising of a her hand a gesture but not an attempt to attack Mr George.
"It was a gesture with my hand. It was not definitely an attempt to assault him", she said.
Ms Botchwey said Mr George was invading her privacy, which was against her fundamental human rights.
Property explanations
When the House resumed, Ms Botchwey explained that she had even suspended moves for the procurement of the property in Oslo due to the huge disparities in the valuation of the property.
She said a state agency in Norway valued the property at $11 million but a newspaper in that country put the value at $3 million.
Not even one corner gas been spent on the property. We have not paid a penny for it.
"Last week I got wing of the fact that there was some discrepancy in the price of the property. The document that we received which was an article in a newspaper in Norway put the price very low in terms of the valuation", she said.
Ms Botchwey said when five high level directors went to do the investigation they came back with a public document which put the valuation at $11.5 million.
"Immediately I asked them to stop or stay all proceedings on the transaction. As at last week, I had no intention of continuing the purchase.
"Norway is a very expensive place and properties are very expensive there. So I asked them to start looking elsewhere or temporally we should rent for both the chancery and the residence", she said.
The Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, who presented the committee's report on the budget estimate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, saud the Ministry was making every effort yo use the meagre resources at its disposal in achieving value for money, representing the good images of the country abroad and improving on service delivery.
After the submissions, Parliament approved GHc465,576,872 as budget estimate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for 2019 fiscal year.
Source: Graphic.com
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I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS GUY OF Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. THEY CHOPPED MONEY MORE THAN ANY OTHER PARTY IN HISTORY. DID HE NOT JOIN POLITICS RIGHT AFTER COLLEGE, AND IS NOW A BILLIONAIRE? SO WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT CALLING SOMEONE OUT FOR INFLATING A PRICE. KEEP ON SHARING THE FUNDS MEANT FOR THE COUNTRY AND THE POOR. GOD WILL JUDGE YOU ALL. POLITICIANS WHEN YOU DIE, PLEASE REMEMBER TO TAKE ALL YOUR CASH WITH YOU.
if we're not careful very soon it will not be wrong to equate politicians to thhieves. if the minister had stopped the deal last week then why did she allow it to go to parliament and got ablakwa to comment on it. it didn't end it there the document ablakwa brought was challenged by the speaker and brought about the break for proper cross checking. so why didn't the minister tell the house at that time that such agenda wasn't in place; probably she did the u-turn cos she realized she has been caught. an individual could bought a house almost the same price the seller bought it but a whole ministry wasted our money for so called directors to do evaluation and the price was inflated more than thrice. God save Ghana from the hands of thhieve leaders who called themselves politicians.
it is the ndc that reported this ***barred word*** in the norwagian news paper... you NPP folks think all Ghanaian s think like you do...the document in question came from Ms. Botchways ministry...there is no doubt about that, so why the so called insults on the ndc mps...what you guys should be doing is to thank Ablakwa for raising this out...he has saved us millions of dollars by raising the issue on the floor...the house could have been purchased underground and the ***barred word*** who are in the affairs of the country will have enjoyed the Xmas like Arabian queens and kings
Oooooo!!! Ayorkor has been caught!!! Red-handed...
It is becoming apparent that some MP have turned the floor of Parliament to spew lies and unfounded allegations because of the immunity enjoyed in Parliament. As individuals respect must be accorded to all manner of persons making unsubstantiated allegations for propaganda sake must not be tolerated. We should all know that there is a limit to human endurance and this limit varies from person to person. As representatives of the people we should be seen to be telling the truth at all times and not BLATANT LIES.
This woman called Ms Botchwey never respect anyone if you get very closer to her. It is true i believe what George is saying. She does not respect anyone apart from her boss
Some NDC elements who came from nowhere but from University students mock political scene, seem to regard politics as the last resort to the existence and so irrationally and inexpediently do they react in real politics. These guys have been described by the Founder of their Party as babies with sharp teeth, but not without cause. No wonder they have no respect for a Lady. Indeed, it is really annoying and minds boggling when the opposition party, solely seeks to stoke falsehood to make political gain. Just much ado about nothing except being blatant mischievous.
THE NDC IS SO DESPERATE THAT COMMONSENSE DOESN'T EXIST IN THEIR WORLD. FROM THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE, I DON'T SEE HOW "SHARP TEETH" ABLAKWA COULD MAKE SUCH A WILD AND BASELESS/INCONCLUSIVE ALLEGATION. IF ANYONE IN PARLIAMENT TODAY IS CORRUPT OR ENGAGING IN CORRUPTION, OKUDZETO STANDS OUT AS A BOY WHO NEVER HAD A JOB, WENT TO PARLIAMENT/POLITICS AND CAME OUT A BILLIONAIRE. NDC, PLEASE THANK GHANAIANS YOU ARE NOT BEING JAILED IN DROVES AND THINK ABOUT POWER IN ABOUT 50 YEARS FROM NOW!!!
Look at some people who call themselves MPs. Ghana y3 mobor papaapa.
Thank you very much Madam you are so Powerful. Thank you for handling those boys with sharp teeth! Next time release the punch and I will take care of the bill in the Law court.Ayekoooooo