Ex-Prez Kufuor Comfortable With President�s Relocation

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said that he is comfortable with President John Mahama�s decision to move the seat of government to the Flagstaff House. The Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mr Mahama Ayariga, on Tuesday, announced that the President would move to the Flagstaff House today, February 7, 2013. Spokesperson for the former president, Mr Frank Agyekum, told Graphic Online that his boss �feels comfortable� because the decision of the President would fulfill the purpose for which the edifice was constructed. The Flagstaff House, which was used by Ghana�s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was reconstructed by the Kufuor administration to be used as the seat of government. The project, which was financed by an Indian loan and grant, was inaugurated just before the former president ended his term of office and renamed it Jubilee House, but the National Democratic Congress (NDC) reverted the name to Flagstaff House after it took office in 2009. It has both office and residential accommodation for the president, the vice president and the supporting staff. However, the late former President John Evans Atta Mills refused to use the edifice before he passed on. In an interview, Mr Agyekum said it was good that President Mahama had decided not to follow the footsteps of his predecessor. He said the project was for Ghana and Ghanaians should be glad that the NDC government had reversed its decision of not using the edifice for the purpose it was constructed. Mr Agyekum said it was unfortunate that the then NPP government received a lot of bashing from its opponents for its decision to reconstruct the Flagstaff House to be used as the seat of government. He, therefore, called on such people to realise that governance was a stage, while successive governments were actors who perform in the interest of the country. Already, the Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has relocated to the Flagstaff House.