The foreign Affairs and regional integration minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway Monday had a heated verbal exchange with the Minority Member of Parliament for North Tongu Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa for claiming that the Ministry inflated the cost of a 100-year-old building it bought for the purposes of establishing a new mission in Oslo Norway.
According to Ablakwa who is the Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, the Ministry quoted $12.1million for the building instead of $3.5million.
He said the Minority’s investigation uncovered that the $16.5million presented to the foreign affairs committee of parliament as the budget for the new mission in Oslo, the Chancery and the Ambassador’s residence is “outrageously high.”
“It is outlandishly inflated,” the Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said during approval of budget estimate for the ministry.
The building, he said was bought in 2014 for NOK 25.2million which is equivalent to $2.9million and per a Norwegian financial newspaper in 2017, the property was sold to an unknown buyer for NOK31million which is equivalent to $3.5million.
“Then our Foreign Ministry is buying this at NOK105million which is equivalent to $12.1million. A property that was sold for only $3.5million last year, August last year. What’s going on? Where is the due diligence? Who did the evaluation report?” he said stating the Norwegian press are describing the entire transaction as “‘unethical’.”
“The breakdown that the foreign Ministry presented all the times have been inflated,” he stressed.
Not enthused by the claims of the Minority, Mrs. Botwe accosted the North Tongu lawmaker and verbally attacked him.
She also attempted physically assaulting Sam George, the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
