NPP “Stole” State Bungalows And Lands -Pratt

The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., says as a result of the wanton “thievery” and “pillage” of state bungalows and lands by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), the current NDC administration is being forced to spend huge sums of monies on provision of accommodation for public and civil servants.

He accused NPP bigwigs of “stealing” state lands under the pretext of having bought them, and yet whine and carp that the ruling government is spending too much money on public and civil servants’ accommodation.

Contribution to a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s ‘Alhaji and Alhaji’ program, the radical social commentator pointed out that the laws of Ghana gives the original land owners the right or first option to buy back any landed property, if the government, for any reason expresses disinterest in the lands again, but the NPP simply ignored the land owners completely during all of the transactions.

The National Security Coordinator, Col. Anthony Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd), who spoke on the same platform in an earlier interview, said his outfit is ready to ensure that state properties are properly safeguarded in the supreme interest of the people of Ghana.

Col. Gbevlo-Lartey was emphatic that all state lands which have found their way into private hands without legal basis and authorization, would be retrieved and put into proper use for the benefit of the whole nation.

It would be recalled that in the early part of September this year, a three-member Technical Committee set up to probe into the Re-development of Government Residential Properties in Accra during the previous administration, presented its final report to the National Security Coordinator. According to the report, the due processes under which state properties were sold to individuals and government officials were not followed and described it as illegal.

The three-member committee, comprising Mr. Richard Dornu Nartey, Dr. Lennox Kwame Agbosu and Mr. John Opoku, tasked the government to terminate the processing of the documents to the individuals and former government officials who bought the properties.

According to the committee, Cabinet should review the lease agreement of each of the sixty-seven allottees, to incorporate cabinet decision that frowns on the transfer of interest in grants made by the government to third parties.

The committee further recommended the immediate termination of the demolition of government bungalows, and the development of all the affected allocations, under what they called phase 2 of the Redevelopment Scheme, protocol, and in-filling allocations.

In addition, the committee called for the immediate withdrawal and termination of the processing of all leases, transfers, conveyances and instruments executed by the Lands Commission in favour of persons allocated the lands.