The Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso Boakye, has told Parliament that current occupants of the UNDP Flats at Cantonments in Accra are squatters who do not pay any rent whatsoever to the state.

The squatters, he added, took advantage and occupied the UNDP Flats when the staff of foreign missions in Ghana, the Cuban Medical Brigade, and staff of individual foreign companies vacated the facility which was serving as residential accommodation as a result of its deplorable state.

However, he served notice in his briefing to the House on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, that these unlawful tenants would soon be evicted as the Ministry was in consultation with relevant institutions to carry out the eviction exercise that will pave way for the rehabilitation of the building.

Further to that, he said the Ministry has included the UNDP Flats as part of its redevelopment scheme and therefore, “is in the process of arranging a structured financing scheme for the rehabilitation as well as redevelopment of the flats”.

These measures, the Minister who is also the NPP MP for Bantama noted, are part of plans to give a facelift to the UNDP Flats to serve the original purpose of putting up that facility.

The Minister was responding to a question which was posed by the NDC MP for Bole/Bambi, Yusif Sulemana as to who the occupants of the UNDP Flats in Cantonments are and whether or not they pay rent to the Government.

The UNDP Flats at Cantonments were constructed in 1960, to serve as a diplomatic enclave, offering residential accommodation to the staff of foreign missions in Ghana.

The facility as at December 2010, according to the Minister, comprised forty-eight (48) flats, housed in four blocks of three (3) storey buildings.

This story was written by Stephen Odoi-Larbi