Government to evict UNDP flat tenants over $297,000 debt

General News of Friday, 17 August 2018

Source: citinewsroom.com

2018-08-17

Atta Akyea456Works and Housing Minister, Samuel Atta Akyea

The Ministry of Works and Housing is set to evict national security operatives who occupy the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) block of flats at Cantonments without paying rents.

The ministry has been cited in the 2016 Auditor General’s report for the non-recovery of over $460,000 in rent from the occupants of the UNDP flats.

Speaking to Citi News after appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Works and Housing Minister, Samuel Atta-Akyea said the Ministry had recovered $163,000 of the amount.

But he admitted that more needed to be done.

“We are pushing very hard to recoup the rest of the money, but what we have done, which is very important is that we are demanding that everybody pays his rent if you are located in the UNDP flats and if you do not pay your rent, the law is clear, you have to be evicted.”

Demand notices have been sent to all those living there, “and they have to respond to the demand notice and pay off the arrears of rent,” the Minister said.

He also said there was a person hiding under the umbrella of national security who was making the collection of rent difficult.

“We are insisting that no national security personnel can go and occupy premises without the approval of the Ministry of Works and Housing. If you are a very important person in National Security, you should write to us formally that you should occupy a place and we determine it.”

Mr. Atta-Akyea added that “we think that some of them are squatters and we are dealing with them so that we have full recovery of the rent to the benefit of the Exchequer.”

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