Today in History: Akufo-Addo must reside at Flagstaff house – Security Expert

Four years ago, a security expert, Major General Nii Carl Coleman(rtd) requested that measures be put in place to make President Akufo-Addo vacate from his private residence at Nima.

According to him, it is bizarre for the president to keep staying at his Nima residence when the official presidential residence of any president-elect is the Flagstaff House.

In an interview on Morning Starr, the security expert said, “Immediately, a step should be taken to get Nana Akufo-Addo to move into the official residence.”

“I do not think it is right that presidents choose to be in their private residence when provisions have been made for them by the state,” he added.

Read the full story originally published on January 26, 2017 below.

Security expert, Major General Nii Carl Coleman(rtd), has called for immediate steps to be taken to get the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, to move into the official presidential residence.

According to him, it is inexplicable for the President to continue to dwell in his private residence when the state has provided him an official residence.

Mr. Akufo-Addo since taking over from former president John Mahama as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces continues to live in his private Nima residence.

This, according to some governance experts is unacceptable. They are therefore calling on him to move into the residence provided him by the state.

Major-General Coleman concurred arguing that would ensure the president gets all the protections he needs.

Speaking Wednesday in an interview with Nii Arday Clegg on the Morning Starr, he said “Once we have given President Nana Akufo-Addo the nod, we are to give him the necessary protection.

“[Therefore], immediately, a step should be taken to get Nana Akufo-Addo to move into the official residence.”

The Deputy Director of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Dr. Franklin Oduro also believes it is wrong from the president to continue to live in his private residence.

“I do not think it is right that presidents choose to be in their private residence when provisions have been made for them by the state,” he said on Morning Starr.

According to him, it was “just right for the first family to move into the official residence.”

He said official residences of presidents and their deputies are legislated in other parts of the world but the situation in Ghana is the reverse, and that is worrying.

The President’s continues stay in his private residence since he was declared the country’s president-elect and subsequently sworn-in as president, has caused massive hiccups between motorists and security officers manning his Nima residence.

This, according to Dr. Oduro who is also the Head of Research and Programming at the CDD, could have been avoided had the president relocated to his official residence.

“If there are concerns raised by the people in the area, there is the need to address the concerns,” he told Nii Arday Clegg.