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Opinions of Tuesday, 10 January 2017

Columnist: Sarpong, Justice

Evict Mahama asap from that house, what greediness is that?

Former President John Dramani Mahama Former President John Dramani Mahama

President Mahama has behaved like a perfect gentleman after the election which has garnered him kudos around the world in a continent that has bad Actors as Presidents who when voted out of office try to perpetuate their rule by tampering with their various constitutions.

Ghana has exemplified itself as a beacon of democratic rule in Africa with previous Presidents like Rawlings and Kufuor peacefully handing over power to their political opponents which President Mahama did to the admiration of all Ghanaians and other African leaders unlike Yahya Jammeh of Gambia who has refused to hand over power after losing the election in that country.

As a former President and as our constitution stipulates, he is entitled to a free house or two and an office and other juicy benefits which even countries like USA does not give to their Ex-Presidents.

Now President Mahama wants to continue living in his present abode, a designated residence for Vice Presidents of Ghana which he continued to live in even after he became President. The previous occupants of this address were former President Mills when he was the Vice President and Vice-President Aliu Mahama who was President Kufuor's Vice President. Now President Mahama wants to have this house as part of his going away benefit package and I am really surprised about this sudden change of character about how greedy and unprofessional he is. How ca n he request to be given an official residence for Vice Presidents of our country?

As usual with Ndc and its lying bunch of yahoos, former Communication Minister, Omane Boamah came out and lied to us the transition team approved of Mahama's request which has been denied by the transition team leader of NPP, Dr Osarfo Marfo.

Now we have Hannah Tetteh, the leader of the NDC transition team lying too about how Parliament approved of Mahama's request. Mahama's letter demanding this house was written on December 19, 2016 when Parliament was not in session so what Parliament approved of Mahama's request? Parliament approved of Mahama's benefit package of two houses and others but Parliament did not approve of this particular residence. Hannah Tetteh again lied about Rawlings and this is what she said;

"A member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) transitional team, Hanna Tetteh, has said the request by former president John Dramani Mahama for a bungalow and office is part of his end of service benefit package approved by parliament.

Again this is very much in line with presidents. If you recall, when former president Rawlings handed over to President Kufuor and he was leaving office, he indicated that he would prefer to live where his family was already residing. That building was given to him as his official accommodation."

Ms Hannah Tetteh, that is not exactly true, you are just trying to muddy the waters, we know Parliament approved the end of year benefits for President Mahama and he is going to get what is due to him but he cannot pick and choose what he wants.

The house he is living in now which he covets is the official residence of the Vice President and he cannot have it.Parliament did not approve for him to take the official residence of the Vice President and he should pack and leave or face eviction.

Secondly, it is not true that Rawlings got what he requested. Rawlings actually initially requested the Australian house, governmet guest house for visiting heads of states from other countries and very important people. As a matter of fact, Rawlings feud with President Kufuor is because the Kufuor administration did not accede to his Rawlings request for the Australian house because that is an official residence designated for foreign guests.Official government residences cannot be given to any greedy person who requests them, period.

Mahama is making the same mistake requesting an official residence which he is well aware is not available. He needs to move back to his personal house at East Legon temporary if he does not want to live there permanently until the government finds an appropriate accommodation for him.

President Kufuor has been out of office for eight years and the same NDC administration of Mills and Mahama did not find it appropriate to give him any house to reside in and even the office given to him at Cantoments, the same Ndc organized its thugs masquerading as Ga Youth to chase him out of that office just for plain hatred.

Now the greedy Mahama is making an outrageous request, what next? We cannot continue to pamper these rich Ex-Presidents with houses to live in when they have their own houses. President Kufuor is living in his own house at Airport Residential area and Mahama should move to his house at East Legon now that he is boasting water flows 24/7. According to President Mahama, he moved from his house at East Legon to his present address because water was a problem at East Legon.

What if we accede to Mahama's request and give him the official residence for the Vice President of Ghana and the next Ex-President requests the Jubilee/Flagstaff house as his end of administration benefit?