National Security claims Kufuor's controversial office

The crisis over ex-President Kufuor’s acquisition of a state bungalow for an office complex has assumed a new twist as the National Security Council lays claim to the facility.

National Security Co-ordinator, Col. Larry Gbevlo Lartey told Joy News that the building belonged to his outfit and the former president has no right to use it.

Meanwhile the Minority in Parliament has called on the president to publicly comment on the issue as it is becoming unbearably embarrassing to the ex-president.

Addressing a press conference, the Minority Leader and his deputy, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and Ambrose Dery respectively said ex-president Rawlings upon exiting the presidency at the end of his term in office, identified an office for himself but that did not generate any controversy.

They questioned the justification for the brouhaha surrounding Mr. Kufuor’s use of a state bungalow as his office and the ‘loud’ silence of President J.E.A. Mills over the matter.

The minority wants the president to, as a matter of urgency, address the issues and stop the ‘subtly orchestrated’ means to embarrass the former president.

But presidential spokesperson, Mahama Ayariga rejected the suggestions saying there was “no any orchestrated act of vendetta against the former president”.

He said the government was doing everything it could to accord Mr. Kufuor a peaceful retirement in order to be able to tap some of the remaining energy in him for national development and stressed the need for all parties involved in the issue to exercise maximum restraint and allow due process to be followed and completed.

According to him, since National Security had expressed interest in the matter it was important to liaise with them to resolve the controversy.

It is his contention that if the office of ex-President Kufuor dialogues with National Security and the presidency, the issue would be amicably resolved.

He was not happy with a group calling itself Ga Youth Association which threatened to evict the former president from the building.

While admitting that it was within their constitutional right to express their opinions on the saga, he argued that the group did not have any legal locus to eject Mr. Kufuor from the facility.