My residence at Cantonments was sold to a private developer while I was in it – Bagbin

Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, disclosed that while he was still living there, his Cantonments home was sold to a private developer.

He said that the Lands Commission had to make an attempt to halt the property’s sale.

On November 20, 2023, during the Speaker’s Breakfast Forum at the Swiss Spirit Alisa Hotel in Accra, he made this statement.

Speaking to the forum’s audience, Alban Bagbin emphasized the difficulties the parliament faces, especially with regard to property damage.

He continued by disclosing the concerning incident involving his residence at Cantonment.

“Many of you don’t know that even the residence of the speaker was almost sold to the private sector. Actually it was given out. It was when they went to register that the Lands Commission identified that that is the residence of the Speaker. Luckily, I was inside, so it was saved,” he said.

He also emphasized the challenges the house has in recovering properties and the continuous fight to obtain land for the erection of legislative buildings.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Ghana’s start of democratic journey is known to all and needs no further mention. This largely affected the development of parliamentary democracy. Unlike the executive and the judicial arms of government, we have had to be a number of times and we lost almost all our properties. So, we are now struggling to get even our lands for us to be able to put up some structures to accommodate parliament,” he added.

The Speaker’s Breakfast Forum was under the theme; “Thirty Years of Parliamentary Democracy under the Fourth Republic: Reflect on Citizen’s Engagement and the way forward”.