Former chief of staff under the Kufuor government, Kwadwo Mpiani has said it was the partisan nature of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government which caused it to waste five years before moving to the flagstaff House than poor security as the government claims.

“I don’t know the security details they are going to raise there as you can’t put up more structures on that compound so I don’t see the noise about security as I think they just wanted to have an excuse to stay away from the place,” he noted.

He further disclosed, “If there is any extra cost, I believe it will be due to the non-usage of the place for about five years.

There are a lot of electronic gadgets there and if you leave the place for that long period without using it, there will be a problem when you move in as you will have to change a lot of things and that costs money.”

He however believes President Mahama has made the right decision to move into the flagstaff house and advices that he should be guided more by the national interest.

“I believe it is the right decision as the whole edifice was put up to be the office of the Head of State and it is rather unfortunate that it has taken a long time for the President to decide to move in,” Mr. Mpiani said.

“Maybe it teaches us a lesson as a nation that we should look at things with a broader view as we seem to be too much of a partisan nation. We look at everything with partisan considerations and I think that is not good enough,” he added.

He also cautioned against any move to start a debate as to whether the castle should be reverted to the Ga state.

“We should try as a nation to avoid these things of the castle being on Ga land and therefore it should go to Ga people. We are one people, one nation and the earlier we stop these things, the better,” he stated.

“We can use it as a museum and a hotel because when we were there a lot of people were coming from Scandinavian countries to just come look at these areas so I think we need to think seriously about what we want to do with it and maybe we will be able to make some money out of it,” he added.