Government bungalows now Sobolo, Pito breweries - Minister

The Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Freda Prempeh, has bemoaned the treatment of government bungalows by retirees after their service to the state.

According to her, some retirees abandon state properties and leave them to squatters who turn such facilities into “sobolo” and “pito” breweries, with the cost of renovation on the shoulders of the government.

Speaking on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Thursday, 17 August 2017, Ms Prempeh said, “If it’s not yours then it has to go waste. I visited a place and they had just abandoned the whole bungalow and the squatters were using the facility as a place to produce their fante kenkey and sobolo and pito and government will have to use the tax payer’s money to renovate these bungalows and bring them back to life.”

She noted that government is consulting stakeholders and taking inputs on the Real Estate Agency Bill so that best practices elsewhere may be considered when renting out bungalows to workers.

“When you go to other jurisdictions, when you rent a house you pay a percentage of an amount that caters for some of these things [that is] maintenance of the facility so that if you are leaving the facility and it’s not the same way that you went into it, they will deduct it from that money that you deposited. So I think that now that we are working on the Real Estate Agency Bill, we are consulting stakeholders for their inputs,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ms Prempeh, who also doubles as the Member of Parliament for Tano North, cautioned retired public servants and unauthorised persons occupying government properties to vacate or face eviction.

“We are coming out with the police next week. If you’ve not paid your rent, if you are not authorised to live in a government bungalow, make sure that you pack out,” she warned.