CHRAJ boss’ hotel imbroglio “shocking error of judgment” – Emile Short

Former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Short has said it was “an error of judgment” on the part of his successor, Lauretta Lamptey, to have moved into a hotel at the expense of the state, pending the renovation of her official residence.

Lamptey, according to state-owned Daily Graphic, within 37 months – from July 2011 when she was appointed to July 2014 when her rent at the AU Village expired – spent US$203,500 on rent and utilities at the expense of the State’s kitty.

She is currently lodging at a hotel and paying the Cedi equivalent of $456.25 per day in the interim, as her official residence, which was inhabited by her predecessor, Emile Short, undergoes renovation at a cost of Ghc182, 000.

Short, who described the house as “habitable” as of the time he left office in 2010, told STARR NEWS he found it “surprising” that the purported renovation has taken more than three years and still ongoing.

“I think also her decision to move to a hotel is a serious error of judgment given the function that CHRAJ has," Short said on Tuesday.

“I was surprised and rather shocked to hear that she’s now living in a hotel at the state’s expense, but as I said, when I left in 2010, the house was in a habitable condition. Of course, it could have done with some repair, but for the repairs to have taken so long, I really don’t know why that should be so," Justice Short observed.

According to him, he would never have behaved the way Lamptey did under any circumstance; “...I definitely would not have moved into a hotel when I was in office under any condition, but she has to explain why she did that, but I think that having been in office for three years and then you move into a hotel, I find that quite strange."

He said though he was reluctantly commenting on the matter “because my observations might be misconstrued by her and by other people...I do agree that the amount is huge and I do honestly feel that for a head of an institution, after several years, to move into a hotel is rather unusual and it doesn’t augur well for the image of the institution."