We’re engaging police to eject Bulgarian Embassy encroacher- Foreign Affairs Ministry

The government has no hand in the demolition of the Bulgarian Embassy in Accra by a private developer, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has explained.

The Bulgarian Embassy, located at Kakramadu Road, Plot No. 10, East Cantonments in Accra was demolished by the private developer in 2017.

The Lands Commission has since ordered the developer to stop work on a redevelopment project on the site.

But work has since been progressing.

On Wednesday afternoon [March 16, 2022], the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu-Bio and his counterpart from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Kwasi Ampratwum-Sarpong, visited the premises of the disputed Bulgarian Embassy land to stop the private developer from continuing with work.

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu and Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has expressed worry over the development and suggested it could mar the Ghana-Bulgaria relationship.

But according to the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, all efforts to work with the police to stop the private developer have proven futile.

At a press conference in Accra on Wednesday afternoon [March 16, 2022] Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said the workers of the developer have been warned that they will be arrested if they resume operations in spite of the directive to stop work following an inspection of the site by the Ministry.

“In fact, I got involved in this particular Bulgarian issue on the express instructions of the President [Akufo-Addo]. It came to his attention when the Bulgarian Ambassador came to present his credence letters and the Ambassador raised it and the President asked me. Thereafter the President called me and gave me instructions to go and sort it out. It was at that point that the President even mentioned the name of the trespasser to me and that is how I got to know who the trespasser is,” Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said.

The Deputy Minister said since then they have been on it, “director consular, director legal, we’ve had series of meetings with the parties involved trying to get his matter resolved amicably. We have at least two or three stages even gone to the police, to see if the police will be able to come in and help us throw out the developer, but that has not been successful.”

When the team got there, it was realised that work was still ongoing despite the directive by the Lands Commission for it to be halted, reports Graphic Online’s Timothy Ngnenbe.

Piles of gravel, cement blocks and other building materials were seen at the premises, with some workers busily working.

Some of them absconded when the team got there, except the supervisor.