The Rent Control Department has taken the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to the cleaners over their decision to pay rent advance in excess of the mandatory six months.

The Chief Rent Officer, Addo Soin Dombo, said he was taken aback to hear that the Commission paid its rent in US dollars which is in clear violation of the rent laws of Ghana.

The CHRAJ boss Lauretta Vivian Lamptey has come under intense pressure to vacate her post following revelations that over US$203,500 has been spent on renovating her official residence. She is currently lodging at a hotel and paying the Cedi equivalent of $456.25 per day.

“This is a clear violation of the rent law and I’m surprised a person of her stature, who should know best, she is a lawyer, she’s supposed to be implementing laws,” Dombo told private network Citi FM.

“For her to go and pay in dollars is another issue. We don’t spend dollars in Ghana here. So what do you want the other people to do. It is illegal, we don’t spend dollars in Ghana here, we spend cedis.”

He added: “I don’t buy it and I think the government should take it up and come up with punitive measures against all landlords who charge in dollars. Starting even with the government, the government should stop charging their properties in dollars.

“It is an error and for her to go and pay rent in excess of six months is another violation of the rent law, Section 25 of the Rent Act 220, 1963. It frowns on it. And for her, a Commissioner and a lawyer to do this, I don’t know, God save us.”