Addressing the media at the Presidential press encounter at the Flagstaff House in Accra, Dr Bawumia complained that the $ 14 million expenditure for the bungalow “is too high” and would hurt the public purse.

The event was to assess the performance of the government after 6 months in office.

Answering a question on the delay in the completion of the building which was being constructed by the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited, he said they would work to ensure the successful completion of the project.

However, he said, “government would not accept the $14 million expenditure and, thus, would undertake a re-negotiation to slash the cost to a reasonable level to protect the public purse.”

Dr Bawumia urged the public to maintain its confidence in government adding that they would remain resolute to use the country’s resources judiciously for development.

He had earlier accused the previous government of inflating the contract figures of the project pegging at a cost of $13.9 million.

He said he could not understand why any government would invest such an amount into such a project at a time that the country was battling with dire economic challenges.

The issue had since remained a controversy between the previous government and the ruling New Patriotic Party.

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Source: GNA

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The former President following a massive public uproar withdrew his request for retaining the bungalow at Cantonments and an official office accomodation at Ridge.

[contextly_sidebar id=”cHKDY5Csn3d2pl58kIZESAG7uasZr9vH”]Correspondence from the former president suggest that the NPP government agreed for him to keep the bungalow; an impression government communicators had rejected.

Meanwhile, speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme; The Big Issue on Saturday, Casely-Hayford said the NPP is withholding some information from the public.

“All I am reading and hearing…is that somewhere along the line some agreement must have been cut. Something was negotiated because I don’t think that the president will actually write a letter referring to an agreement between him and the incoming president and it being totally false. It can’t be totally false, there has to be some truth in it for him to make reference to.”

“My point is that there is some connivance and there is a point where we are not being given the whole truth of the matter. This is from the government side. I think in this particular instance they are withholding truth because of repercussions. It just doesn’t make any logical sense that president Mahama will sit down and forge an agreement and refer to an agreement that never existed and say I am withdrawing my request,” he argued.

When asked possible reason for the NPP’s position by host of The Big Issue, Umaru Sanda Amadu, Mr. Casely-Hayford blamed the issue on the outcry on social media.

“All I can say is after the story broke out and they felt the backlash particularly on social media and how people were thinking about this whole issue they decided to do a U-turn, they had to figure out a way of covering in up,” he noted.

Mahama’s request unnecessary

But the Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso West Wuogon, Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko said on The Big Issue that Mahama’s request was uneccessary.

“It was unnecessary for John Mahama to make the request for a specific house…A president should not make a choice to live anywhere unless it’s their own house,” he added.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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