Olso Chancery Deal: Why Is Okudzeto Ablakwa Wasting Everybody's Time? – Majority Asks

Majority in Parliament has described as unfounded, allegations that government has acquired a chancery building in Oslo at a price inflated by some 8.5 million dollars.

According to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament, Frank Annor Dompreh, there is no proof to the effect that government closed a deal to purchase the said property.

Addressing the press, Mr. Dompreh said Mr. Ablakwa's conduct in recent times is making him a nuisance to parliament.

“The minister (Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey) came to us with all the details we needed. If she had a bad motive, why will she provide all those details to us?”

“Why is this young man (Okudzeto Ablakwa) wasting everybody's time? He is wasting everybody's time and we are worried that we have bought this property. I am very disappointed in him. We need to work as a committee. There is an internal letter and you leak it on social media. This is so unfortunate. This is where we are now but we will manage him, he stressed.

Minority demands full presidential probe into acquisition of chancery in Norway

The Minority in Parliament has demanded a full scale presidential probe into the attempted purchase of a building for use as a chancery for Ghana's mission in Norway.

Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has denied signing an agreement for the procurement of a Chancery and Ambassador's Residence for its mission in Norway, the minority believes this should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Minority Spokesperson on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said records exist to show that the ministry had entered into an agreement with the owners of the said facility.

The minority is therefore daring government to release the official letters to indeed show that the purchase has been halted.

“Before you bring us all these documents and inflated figures, it should have gone through some due diligence within the executive. Parliament is not a dumping ground where you come and dump all these documents for approval and then you say that you have only gone to express interest and that you didn't mean the approval you were seeking from parliament. We want to know, to what extent is the President aware of this transaction and he must speak to this matter and commission a full probe into this matter. We want a national enquiry into this transaction which has brought so much shame to Ghana”, he noted.

Nana Addo's response on Oslo Chancery deal 'embarrassing' – Ablakwa

The Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has described as shameful , President Akufo-Addo's dismissal of the Minority's concerns on the Oslo Chancery controversy.

According to him, the president's response on the matter during his encounter with some journalists on Wednesday was embarrassing, considering the fact that there are documents to prove the Ministry's agreement to the deal, which Ablakwa describes as scandalous.

President Akufo-Addo, at the press encounter at the Jubilee House, dismissed the Minority's allegations of a bloated project cost describing them as empty and without substance.

But Ablakwa believes the president has demonstrated a lack of interest in addressing the problem.

“What happened is an unspeakable shame and a total embarrassment to our country. This is not leadership because your own Foreign Affairs Minister has submitted documents to the Parliamentary select Committee on Foreign Affairs that show that by the end of this year they were going to pay for that property. Documents that show that an agreement has been reached and the scandalous amount of the two properties has been agreed to by the ministry of foreign affairs. The president cannot say that this transaction is just a figment of the opposition's imagination, the facts that does support it,” Ablakwa said.

Source: citinewsroom.com| Ghana