The minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says it is his duty to ensure that ‘tax payers’ money is used judiciously by the government’; hence his debate on the controversial Oslo building.
“My constituents who voted for me and Ghanaians in a whole, will not be happy with me if I had kept these facts to myself. I have nothing personal against the Foreign Affairs Minister; I am just doing my job” he indicated.
The minority in Parliament led by Mr Ablakwa have been up in arms with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway over their ‘intention’ to purchase a building in Oslo, Norway for use as Ghana’s embassy.
The property, the Minority alleged was purchased at a cost of $12.1 million instead of $3.5 million.
Even though the ministry insists the building has not been purchased yet, Ablakwa who is also the Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency in the Volta Region says there are evidences proving to the contrary.
Discussing the issue further during a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji, Saturday, 22nd December, 2018, Okudjeto Ablakwa asked:
- If the ministry has just expressed an interest to the Norwegian government, then why did she come to parliament?
- If they just expressed an interest then why the need for approval of design?
- Why submit drawings and obtain permit?
According to him, once the ministry has gone as far as obtaining “permit from the Norwegian authorities…this deal clearly has been sealed, signed, closed”
“what you were coming for is an approval from parliament…in anyway parliament is not a dumping place for thought processes and expression of interest; you haven’t done due diligence and you come and dump these documents on us…so what were you doing in parliament; it is clear that the deal has been closed” he indicated.
Financial Commitment
The Foreign Affairs ministry has also insisted that no financial commitment has been made as far as the building in Oslo is concerned. However, the MP for North Tongu says it is ‘wrong to create the impression that no money has been spent’.
“The minister says they have engaged valuers, an agency and lawyers per the 17th December statement; is government telling us that all these experts are working for free? They are working pro bono? The minister said they wrote to back out of the transaction, where is that letter and what was the response from the seller. There are lots of questions to answer…” he noted
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]
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Ablakwah, don't you know that you are becoming a nuisance in Parliament? Parliament suppose to be for serious minded people, people who has the nation at heart but ever sense you were elected into parliament you have become a nuisance and a disgrace to parliament. You always want your voice to be heard but any time you open your mouth, you lie to the teeth, why. If you want to grow up in parliament as Alvin Bagbin then you have check yourself, otherwise you will be surprise your constituents will throw away one of these days.
And they are Christians but they cannot keep to the rules of the game.Pathetic!
$12m Oslo Building Saga: NDC Exposed December 24, 2018 Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has stressed that the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament had lied about the cost of the controversial chancellery in Oslo, Norway which the government is reportedly seeking to acquire. The Minister reiterated her earlier position last week at a press conference in Accra. “The press statement is to deepen your understanding of the facts behind the issues, the process in the acquisition of such facilities and what the precedence have been, the chronology of events and processes and finally, provide you an opportunity to seek clarification,” she indicated. She emphasized that “the Minority’s assertion that an amount of $15million has been paid to purchase the property is false.” According to her, “The Ministry wishes to state the following facts: that on the 20th of November, 2018, Controller and Accountant General transferred an amount of $3,199,506.13, an equivalent of GH¢15,337,157.52 to the Ministry for the purpose of establishing three new missions abroad- Guangzhou, China, Oslo, Norway, Port Louis, Mauritius. She added that “the amount stated above is still in the custody of the ministry and not paid to any vendor or owner of any property abroad, the Minority’s assertion that the cost of the building has been inflated is false.” It would be recalled that while contributing to the debate of the budget of the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday, December 16, ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament and NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu in the Volta Region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, alleged that the ministry was seeking to purchase a six-bedroom property whose value had been inflated by over $8 million, equivalent to GH¢41.7 million. Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa had explained that the NDC, through its internal investigations, had discovered that the six-bedroom apartment was sold at $3,598,108 in 2017, adding that the same property was being bought at an outrageous price of $12,218,487. He alleged that in that country, a Norwegian financial newspaper by name Finansavisen, wrote about the sale of the property at the quoted price of $3.6 million in 2017. Consequently, Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa held a press conference on Tuesday, December 17 to call on President Akufo-Addo to institute a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the matter, arguing that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in its response, did not speak to basic issues he raised on the floor of parliament. President Akufo-Addo indicated that he would not establish any independent commission of inquiry to investigate the matter. The Majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) also rubbished the claims, describing them as false. He said that North Tongu MP is seeking to waste government’s time with his allegations. DAILY GUIDE’s checks indicate that the said building in Olso, Norway is 15-room apartment and not six-bedroom house as being speculated. What Okudzeto may be referring to may be the residence of the ambassador which is a six-bedroom house valued at $3 million. Justification For Opening Mission The minister said that Ghana’s growing ties with Norway in areas of oil and gas and political cooperation had necessitated the establishment of a mission. She said “there are over 50 Norwegian companies operating in the country, including the investors of Apollonia City.” According to her, “It is worthy to note that Aker, a Norwegian Oil and Gas company, is investing an amount of $20billion in Ghana. 50 percent of the amount has already been invested. In addition, the Prime Minister of Norway is Co-Chair of the SDG’s with the President, so engagements with Norway have intensified.” Report Following the decision of government to open a resident diplomatic mission in the Kingdom of Norway, the minister said she directed that an advance team be sent to Oslo to undertake preparatory works towards the establishment of the Embassy. “A five-member team accordingly visited Oslo to undertake the exercise. Prior to the visit, the team met with the Norwegian Ambassador to Ghana on Monday, 15th October, 2018 to officially convey the decision of the Government of Ghana to the Norwegian Government about its intention to open a resident Diplomatic Mission in Oslo.” “The team arrived in Oslo on Sunday 21st October, 2018. The team subsequently met officials of the host Foreign Ministry to begin the processes for the establishment of the Embassy. The members of the delegation were adequately briefed by the host officials on the procedures for establishing a diplomatic mission in Norway.” “The delegation also met some selected African and non-African Missions in Oslo to learn from their experiences.” The Missions, she mentioned, were South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Peru and Turkey. “During discussions with officials of these Missions, they all advised the delegation to purchase properties right from the onset in view of the high cost of rent in the country. For example one African country is paying $45,000 a month in rent.” Based on their recommendation, Ms Ayorkor Botchwey explained that the team widened its scope of search for properties to include outright purchase where possible. She revealed that “during the search for suitable properties for use as chancellery and residence, the team observed that prices of properties in Oslo were indeed extremely high. For example, of the three properties identified as suitable for use as chancellery, two buildings were costing $9,500,000 and $13,000,000 respectively to purchase, while the third was for rental at a cost of $25,000 per month.” She added that “doing the cost-benefit analysis on the three buildings, the delegation was of the view that an outright purchase would be more economical in the long term. Accordingly, the team recommended the purchase of the property costing $13,000,000 in view of its location, accessibility, structure, size, parking lots, among others.” According to her, “With regards to the residence, the team also recommended the purchase of a property they identified in Ullern costing approximately $3,500,000.” She said, “I wish to state on record that prior to the Foreign Affairs team’s arrival in Oslo, the proposed chancellery building was already under renovation, and was not being done at the instance of the Ministry.” The said building was initially an office and later converted into a residence. The ongoing renovation is to restore the building back to an office complex.” By Melvin Tarlue
Pinochio Ablakwa, you 1ie too much.
Then it's a bl00DY w0rse job you are doing as a parliamentarian. A job conducted on l1es, l1es and bl00dy l1es. ***barred word***$ such as Ablakwa gets paid with taxpayers money only to take us for ***barred word***. dishonourable man.
Bloody liar! You profess you have evidence. Is that evidence what you just mentioned ?. Joker!! Fact that there is a contractor working at the house, doesn't mean the property has been sold. You need to fix up the house/upgrades before you put it out there on the market.This is how you build value on a property.
see his teeth
You are just doing your work... yes... then tell us why it costs $14 million to put up an uncompleted vice presidential building in Ghana by you NDC double salary t.h.ieves. You NDC guys are satanic....
When the dubious STX saga was going on, did Government incur expenses? The fact that you incur expenses does not make the negotiations is a done deal. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE STX DEAL AND ITS EXPENSES INCURED BY GOVERNMENT DONE. YOU ARE NOT A TRUSTWORTHY PERSON TO BE IN PARLIAMENT.
In a similar vein, can we also ask who is receiving the rent money of $45,000 every month? Whose property is it? Has the Minority and Inusah Fuseini fished it out who the owner is? And is the rent fixed for 10, 20, 30 years? Will it decrease or it will increase as the years go by? Don't know why it couldn't post on Ghanaweb on the story with the heading; $12 million Oslo building saga: NDC exposed. Will post it here.