Sale of government bungalows subject of 42 court cases

Page 35: Daily Graphic, May 4, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A PRIVATE Legal Practitioner, Mr Bright Akwettey, has indicated that government lands and bungalows said to have been sold to some public officials and private individuals are the subject of some 42 cases pending before the courts.
He said those who claim to have paid for them did so at their own risk.
According to him, anyone who bought either public lands or government bungalows under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration did so at their own risk, and commended the government for deciding to review the alleged sales.
Mr Akwettey was speaking in an interview on government’s intention to review those transactions and the rebuttal by former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, that it was only the Supreme Court that could review the sales.
A former State Attorney and Prosecutor, Mr Akwettey, said while it was a fact that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration of former President J. J. Rawlings started the process, he indicated that it was halted when the GaDangme Council protested, warranting the Lands Commission, under the leadership of Dr Ohene Larbi, to enter into negotiations with the Council before the 2000 elections.
Unfortunately, he said, the process was halted when the NPP won the elections, and explained that when the government’s attention was drawn to it, the response was that it was an earlier policy which the government would pursue.
He referred to a July 12, 2002 advertisement in the Daily Graphic, in which the GaDangme Council cautioned the NPP government about the sale of the bungalows and served notice to the government to initiate legal process to restrain government from selling off GaDangme lands acquired compulsorily for public purposes and to recover possession of all such lands.
He said as of now, there were 42 of such cases currently pending before the courts.
He said the sale of the government bungalows and lands to private individuals and companies was a breach of Articles 1 (1) and 20 (6) of the Constitution as well as of the Oath of Minister of State. Therefore, anybody who bought bungalows or lands should be disqualified from holding public office.
Article 1 (1) of the 1992 Constitution provides that, “The sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people of Ghana in whose name and for whose welfare the powers of government are to be exercised in the manner and within the limits laid down in this Constitution,” while Article 20 (6) states that, “Where the property is not used in the public interest or for the purpose for which it was acquired, the owner of the property, immediately before the compulsory acquisition, shall be given the first option for acquiring the property and shall, on such re-acquisition refund the whole or part of the compensation paid to him as provided for by law or such other amount as is commensurate with the value of the property at the time of the re-acquisition”.
Part of the Oath of Office of Ministers of State states that, “I will, to the best of my judgement, at all times when required, freely give my counsel and advice for the good management of the public affairs of the Republic of Ghana;...”
According to him, the use of the bungalows by civil servants and public officers was of benefit to all Ghanaians, while the sale of bungalows to private companies and individuals benefited only those private companies and individuals and not the general public.
He said Article 295 of the Constitution defines Public Interest as used in Article 20 (6) as “public interest includes any right or advantage which enures or is intended to enure to the benefit generally of the whole of the people of Ghana”.
Mr Akwettey said from all indications, the NPP government did not work in the public interest, but “was gang-raping public lands and property under its principle of property-owning democracy”.
He served notice to take the individual beneficiaries to court to nullify all the sales, saying “there is too much impunity in the system”.
Mr Akwettey said the NPP government could have enhanced the housing sector by creating communities or estates such as was done by Dr Nkrumah, with the creation of the Ringway Estates, Labone and Kanda, among others, while the Acheampong regime created the Dansoman and Teshie-Nungua Estates.
He said there was nothing wrong for the NPP government to have taken tracts of land to develop into estates and sell them to public officials if it so wished.
“But to sell government bungalows and lands to themselves and their cronies is unpardonable, and each one of them should be recovered. It is a gamble the beneficiaries took and they must pay the price for it,” he added.
Mr Akwettey said it was for such abuse of the system that he initiated a suit for the removal of the late Chief Justice, Mr Justice George Acquah, after he allegedly compromised with the land around the Rangoon Avenue at 37 Military Hospital area by the Lands Commission, resulting in his frustration of cases brought against the Lands Commission.
He said the NPP government was by those decisions throwing public officials to landlords to exploit and certainly bound to affect productivity.
According to him, if the colonial masters and subsequent governments had pursued such policies, there would not have been any public lands or bungalows for ministers and other officials to live in.
“I lived in a government bungalow for 21 years, and if my colleagues and I, who were in public service then, had bought those properties, would there be any government bungalows for public officials to live in?” He asked.
Mr Akwettey said the sale of the International Students Hostel to individuals was a sad commentary on the performance of the NPP government.