By Ernest Addo
Even before the retired Justice of the High Court, Justice Kwasi Anto Ofori-Atta, the Sole Inquirer appointed by the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, to unravel the circumstances leading to the demolishing of property on the land being used by the Bulgarian Embassy presents his report to Abu Jinapor, startling details are emerging about the land at issue.
A wikileaks cable message, dated Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 4:43 pm, intercepted by the intelligence bureau of this paper revealed that as far back as January 2008, there was serious rift between the owner of the land and the diplomatic mission.
“On January 9, a disgruntled landlord attempted to evict the Bulgarian Ambassador from his residence which doubles as the Bulgarian Embassy.
According to several sources, the landlord and his minions arrived early in the morning on January 9, forced their way inside the compound and began carrying out the contents of the Embassy/residence and placing them on the street. The landlord also towed out the Bulgarian Ambassador’s Mercedes and had the electricity cut off to the Embassy/residence. Heated arguments ensued between the staff of the Embassy/residence and the landlord, and the Bulgarian Ambassador, Nedelcho Peneff, called the Ghana Police, President Kufuor’s office and other diplomats (including the U.S. Ambassador) to the scene,” the cable message revealed.
After the arrival of several officials, including the EU Ambassador and the Attorney General, the Wikileaks continued, the eviction process was halted. However, the landlord claimed he had not finished and vowed to return to “finish his work.” Neighbors say the Embassy/residence is now guarded 24 hours a day by several guards.
At issue has been the contention by the landlord that the Government of Bulgaria
owes him nearly USD 800,000 in rent payments dating from June 1993. He obtained an eviction notice from an Accra High Court judge dated July 9, 2007 which allows him to seize
vehicles, furniture, and other equipment.
The landlord and the Bulgarians have apparently had land disputes concerning this property since 1978. A dispute in 1990, for example, was mediated by the MFA, and according to the landlord, the Bulgarians were to pay rent from 1993 onward, which they did
not.
For their part, however, the Bulgarians claim that they settled the rent issue in 1983 when they paid a “huge” sum of money to the landlord to cover rent for the next 50 years.
Perhaps seeing that he could not fight the mission, the actual owner (name withheld), New Crusading GUIDE Intelligence gathered, sold the property one Dr Yaw Adu-Amankwah, now the developer, who allegedly caused the demolition of the embassy.
Government, as our checks revealed, has no hand in the alleged demolishing exercise.
Deputy foreign affairs minister, Ampratwum-Sarpong, speaking to the media at the when the issue was reported, indicated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had earlier instructed him to stop the construction on the land of the mission.
“I got involved in this particular Bulgarian mission land business on the express instruction of the President. It came to his (the president’s) attention when the Bulgarian Ambassador came to present his letters. The Ambassador raised it and the president asked me (about it) and then after that, the president called me and gave me instructions to go and sought it out.
“It was at that point that the president mentioned the name of the trespasser to me, that is how I got to know who the trespasser is and he said to me go and sought it… since then we have been on it… trying to get this issue resolved amicably. We have at two or three stages even gone to the police to see if they can come in and throw out this developer but it has not been so successful,” he added.
Stay tuned
