Shocked Kwabenya landlord speaks after storming residence with police to close LGBTQ+ office

Hitherto the widely held notion in the Ghanaian public domain was that the LGBTQI+ office recently opened in Accra had been closed down by National Security operatives on the command of Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

However, it has emerged that contrary to that, it was not until Wednesday, February 24, 2021, that the supposed LGBTQI+ office was closed down by personnel of the Ghana Police Service at Kwabenya in the Ga East Municipal Assembly.

Further details emanating of the operation undertaken by the Ghana Police Service indicates that the order to close down the apartment serving as an office and a shelter to members of the gay community was as a result of a report filed by the owner of the house and not based on the President's order as earlier held.

Speaking to the media after the police stormed the residence, the landlord narrated that the usage of his facility by the LGBTQI+ community came to him as a surprise since the agreement between himself and his tenant was different.

According to Dr. Daniel Asenso Gyambibi, the facility was rented by one Alex Kofi Donkor two months ago under the pretext of using it as an office for a health NGO.

Mr Asenso to his surprise received pictures of the widely circulated LGBTQI+ office opening which happened to be on his property.

He said he called his tenant to acquire more details and it emerged that the property was indeed being used by the LGBTQ+ Rights Ghana as an office and a shelter for some of its members.

“I called the tenant and I asked him that I hear there’s is something going on in the house what is it and he said we had a small party in the house and its all over social media.

"I said hold on, a party and its all-over social media, what do you mean by that? Then he started trying to be dodgy and actually I was really angry. So when he realized I had more information than what he was telling me he confessed,” he stated.

Dr Gyambibi said he had to travel back from Kumasi and contacted the security agencies to confirm whether the tenant had indeed breached the tenancy agreement by turning a residential facility into an office so he could pay him off and evict him.

He adds that the issue had a criminal aspect to it besides the breach of the tenancy agreement which was civil hence the need to involve the police.

“There’s a criminal aspect to it because LGBT is illegal in Ghana so I got the police involved and lawyers are also ready for them. We came, we were at the gate and I had called twice this morning that I would be here by 9:30. At 9:30 I called and he said he was waiting. Then when we came to the gate, we blew the horn the police was behind me but we realized that they were wasting time so we went it. The door was not locked,” he added.

He said whiles the police take over the criminal aspect of the case, he wants the tenants out of his facility.

Dr Gyambibi adds that he never met the tenant in person but dealt with him through his agent and speaking on his plan, he said he wants to keep the house locked since he never really wanted to rent it out.

Reports indicate persons in the house as at the time of the police operation absconded by scaling the walls of the house.