Gov’t ‘Wants’ Oslo Property – Ayorkor Botchwey

The Foreign Affairs Minister has said government is still considering plans to buy a property in Oslo Norway to serve as a chancery for the Ghanaian embassy there. 

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey justified the reason for government buying a property there instead of renting.

“We have opened a mission in Oslo with an ambassador resident and they have a full complement of staff…there is the need for government to buy a property there because Oslo is an expensive city,” she told journalists at the Meet-The-Press series in Accra, Tuesday.

In December 2018, Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, alleged that government had bought a $12m property in Norway to be used as an Embassy.

He said the cost was inflated claiming only a year before that time, the property was bought for $3.5million. He presented documents on the floor of Parliament to back his claim of malfeasance at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

But the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, rejected his evidence ruling they were unreliable.

In a heated response to the North Tongu MP outside the Floor of Parliament, Mrs Ayorkor said an offer for the purchase of the building was made but it had not been accepted.

However, answering questions on the issue at Meet-The-Press yesterday, although the Minister did not mention the amount of the property, she said paying €45,000 as rent for a month is not sustainable.

“For now, the Ambassador is in a one-room apartment which is rented and the chancery is in an office block and they are operating from there but subsequently, the decision will be made to purchase it. We are working towards that,” she said.