Force presidents to live at Flagstaff House – Fuseini

Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, has called for the promulgation of a law that will compel present and future presidents to use the Flagstaff House as their official residence.

Mr Fuseini’s suggestion comes on the heels of controversies surrounding the eviction of traders near President Nana Akufo-Addo's Nima residence by National Security.

The traders and artisans have started packing out of the place to beat the 15 March ultimatum.

Some security analysts say the inconvenience caused to the president’s neighbours could have been avoided if there were a law that compelled Nana Akufo-Addo to live in the Flagstaff House.

Mr Fuseini, who doubles as the Ranking Member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee of parliament, told Class News the Presidential Transition Act should be reviewed to make it compulsory for future presidents to live in the Flagstaff House.

He said: “It is about time that we considered compelling our presidents to live in state houses that we have built for them and stop the process of imposing double taxes on the people of this country for the comfort and the security of the president.

“I say double because the Flagstaff House has been built with the taxpayers’ money for the comfort of the president and fixed with the various security gadgets to protect the life of the president and facilitate his work as the president of the Republic. Now, because there is no law compelling him to live there, he decides to live in his house and visits us with another cost of keeping security and fueling vehicles which is the cost of ensuring that we compensate him for using his house as a designated state house.



“And, so, the additional cost that comes by reason of the fact that he has refused to move to the state house is totally unnecessary, so that is why I think it is time we looked at the Presidential Transitional Act and make it compulsory for presidents to live in the houses that we’ve built for them.”