A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo has urged president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to move to the Flagstaff House to ensure his personal security and also avoid the inconvenience his presence poses to traders around his private residence at Nima.
Professor Gyampo’s comment comes on the heels of government’s attempt to evict traders and artisans living around the private residence of the president.
Government says Nana Akufo-Addo is personally paying traders and artisans around his private residence to relocate.
The traders have however expressed discontent with the compensation package which ranges from GHS3,000 to GHS 10,000. According to them, it is inadequate and not a true reflection of their investments.
Commenting on this development on Monday, 12 March 2018, Prof Gyampo said although the president is being modest in his decision to remain in his private residence, he should move to the Flagstaff House built purposely to house him.
He told show host Moro Awudu that: “Deciding to stay in his own house and move to the office from there means he was trying to be modest but at the same time when a state edifice has been built at a secure place and security very much provided for a president and he decides that he is not going to make use of this edifice, then, at the end of the day, it will amount to he, wasting resources of the state when money will have to again be used to improve or refurbish his personal house that he lives in and to also beef up the security arrangement there.
“And so, yes, it was a demonstration of modesty and not wanting to burden the state but at the same time, a huge edifice has been built for you and we spent a lot of money doing that. If you don’t move in there as the president, then the very arrangement that has been made at the Flagstaff House will have to be somewhat duplicated around the residence of the president and that will lead to extra cost to the nation.
“And then again, as the president, you inconvenience the owners of power when you want their livelihood or their source of livelihood to be changed simply because they are operating around your residence. They use to be with you when you were not the president. So simply because you’ve become a president does not necessarily mean that their source of livelihood should change. So I think to resolve this matter and to ensure that our president is secured, he must move to the Flagstaff House in order not to inconvenience people who are working or trading there and also for the sake of his own security.”
