The Central Regional Communications
Director of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Allotey
Jacobs has dismissed calls by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP)
that President John Dramani Mahama should render an apology to the
erstwhile Kufour-led administration following his relocation to the
Flagstaff House.
Allotey Jacobs could not accept the demands on
the President since to him; President John Mahama has done nothing wrong
to relocate his office to the Flagstaff House, then Golden Jubilee
House.
According to him, it was incumbent on the President to
reside in the Presidential Palace which was abandoned for the past four
years. The President, he said, gave an impression of his departure
before the elections and upon taking up a new mantle of leadership in
the country has honoured his promise to Ghanaians.
Reacting to
the recent turn-around by the governing party on Peace FM Thursday
evening, Allotey Jacobs said on Peace FM News that the President had
since last year hinted the nation about his decision to redirect his
steps to the Flagstaff House and therefore what he sought to do
yesterday was just in conformity with his earlier position on the issue.
“I
have several times said that the faces of President Evans Atta Mills
and President John Mahama differ. Though President Mahama will carry the
visionary part of Prof Mills. As Ghanaians, we have to bear in mind
that President Mahama has his visions and ideas. He has his style of
administration; he has his style of approach to issues.” he said.
Alluding
to the late President John Evans Atta Mills’ position on the location
of the palace, he indicated that the late President’ s bone of
contention with the Kufour government concerning the establishment of
such edifice to serve as the official seat of government, was about the
“profligate” sums of money that were pumped into the construction.
He
explained that “Professor Mills as the then Presidential candidate for
the NDC had a problem with the cost of the construction of Jubilee
House. So, he used words as profligate expenditure.”
He further
said that the late President Mills’ leadership differs from the
incumbent President’s era, and since it’s now the reign of President
Mahama, his decision to move to the Flagstaff House should be respected.
To
him, the edifice which now remains the official seat of government is
“for the President, not for a political party,” adding that the NDC is
solidly behind him.
The multi-million dollar edifice was
constructed under the leadership of former President John Agyekum Kufour
to house Heads of State but several critics raised eyebrows over its
safety measures.
Expanding further on the President’s departure
from the Osu Castle, Allotey Jacobs noted that the seemingly rotten
nature of the place necessitated his action.
“We will not leave
it. That is what President Mahama is saying; that he will not leave that
edifice to rot and therefore he will go in and occupy it,” he
concluded.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
No comments:
Post a Comment