AMA under the auctioneer’s gavel on Thursday

Barring any intervention, some properties of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) are set to be auctioned on November 7 to settle a GH¢20 million judgement debt awarded against it by the Accra Fast Track High Court.
The properties to be sold include the residence of the chief executive of the AMA, as well as bungalows and offices of the assembly.

Already, notices have been posted by Vans-Mart Auctioneers at the main entrances of the affected properties in Accra.

The notices are inviting people who are interested to be available for the auction.

However, the AMA Chief Executive, in an interview on an Accra radio, said the assembly had no money to pay the costs awarded against it.

Mr Kyei Baafuor, a former President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), said the AMA should have taken steps to address the issue before it got to a head.

“The AMA should not have stood aloof for a development partner to go to court for an abrogated contract. It ought to have sat down with the company and not stand aloof. It does not have any excuse,” he charged.

“If you do not have resources to engage a businessman, why do you do that? If you know the abrogation did not follow due process, why do you sit down?” he quizzed.

Mr Baafuor suggested the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development should step in to salvage the situation by arranging with the District Assemblies Common Fund to settle the debt, after which the AMA would be made to reimburse the fund every year.

Van Mart Auctioneers, which has been authorised to sell off properties belonging to some state institutions to defray judgement debts, says it will go ahead and auction the properties belonging to the AMA.

Daily Graphic/Ghana