The Flagstaff House
President John Dramani Mahama has finally resolved to move the presidency from the old slave dungeon, the Osu Castle, to the palatial presidential mansion, Flagstaff House, constructed by the erstwhile Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
This was after several members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) including the late President Atta Mills and National Security Advisor Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (rtd) faulted the $80million used for the construction of the facility.
Apart from the NDC’s claim that it was a waste of resources, Nunoo-Mensah said the location of the presidential complex posed a serious threat to the security of the President.
But at an end-of-year party for staff of the presidency at the Osu Castle last Friday, President Mahama indicated, “An interim committee formed this year to examine the place has given the go ahead for the President to move and make use of the facility as the permanent abode of government.â€
The decision comes almost two months after Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur moved to the Flagstaff House following the president’s failure to vacate the vice president’s office for his successor.
President Mahama explained that the Foreign Affairs Ministry, which had been operating from the Flagstaff House for some time, would move to its new office at the International Students Hostel.
In August, President Mahama set up a committee to advise him on whether or not to move into the Jubilee House, now Flagstaff House.
The committee, which was chaired by Commodore Steve Obimpeh (rtd), a senior presidential staff, was, among others, expected to review the security, logistics and equipment-related issues required to make the Flagstaff House usable and appropriate for the presidency.
Nothing was however heard about the committee until the President announced the decision last week.
Since the death of ex-President John Evans Atta Mills in July, President Mahama has been operating from his old office where he served as vice president, thereby avoiding the use of the Office of the President at the Osu Castle for unknown reasons.
Vice President Amissah Arthur was compelled by circumstances to use an old office at the State House where he operated from and conducted official duties.
Spokesman for the president John Jinapor who offered some form of explanation at the time, said, “He (referring President Mahama) is operating from the Castle, and there is not much difference [whether he is operating from the president or his vice’s office].
There is not much difference, honestly, I don’t know why, but I don’t think there is much difference.â€
He however hinted that President Mahama might move to occupy the Jubilee House, noting, “At the appropriate time, the president too would move there.â€
A recent inspection of the facility by the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Enoch Teye Mensah, and a number of government officials, revealed serious signs of deterioration on the multi-million dollar edifice that had been left mostly uninhabited for the better part of the NDC’s four-year tenure, allowing rodents to have a field day.
The NDC government is believed to have spent a total of GH¢121,443.71 to renovate and to exterminate rodents and scavengers from the place.
E.T. Mensah disclosed in Parliament that out of the total amount, as much as GH¢48,956.99 was used to fumigate the presidential palace.
The cost of the fumigation alarmed Members of Parliament, making some of them question whether the money was used to kill and evacuate a pool of rats and cockroaches in the Jubilee House.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
