Alhaji A. Harruna Attah
11 November 2008
column
Yesterday, Monday, November 10, 2008, the presidential office and residential complex at the site of the former Flagstaff House was commissioned by President Kufuor.
The president thanked the Indian government for the generous assistance it gave Ghana for the building and other projects. With its formal commissioning, the President can take residence there for the remaining one month of his administration.
After next month's elections, there would be a new occupant on January 7 2009. That the person could be the NPP's Nana Akufu-Addo, the NDC's Professor Atta Mills or the CPP's Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom.
Below is an ADM article on the complex published in the Monday May 12 edition:
The house the JAK built
Ghanaians would have to wait till sometime in December to get the answer to that one!If there is one building that has come to symbolise the First Republic (1957-1966), it is Job 600. It was built in the early sixties to host one of the first gatherings of independent African states.
The main building is quite rundown and has been under renovation for many years now but its main meeting hall and banquet hall continue to give sterling service. Ghana's sovereign parliament is now housed there in fact it is now Parliament House.
The (P)NDC regime (1981-1992) and the period of its successor, the National Democratic Congress (NDC 1992-2000) can hold up the International Conference Centre in Accra (ICCA) as a showpiece public building. Originally, it was put up to host a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial Conference.
Derided as the "Pink Lady", the ICCA has become the venue of many international events. Last year an African Union summit was held there and just last month, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) convened there for its 12th meeting- the first time in a sub-Saharan African capital.
It is difficult to conceive Accra without the ICCA. Most certainly many of the high profile conferences that have taken place in Ghana this past decade could not have happened without that facility.
Rising majestically on the Independence Avenue at the Flagstaff House is an architectural icon that the Kufuor Administration (2000-2008) is also bequeathing the nation. It is the presidential office and residential complex. Expected to be completed by July this year, it has already changed the "look" of the Flagstaff House and its environs.
All three buildings were not without their critics. Job 600 was much maligned as a wasteful venture, so was the ICCA and so is the new Flagstaff House presidential complex. So critical were detractors of this new addition to the country's real estate that some members of the NDC said should they come to power, they would not put it to its intended use but turn it into a hospital! As the complex takes shape, even they must be modifying their antagonism towards it.
The main structure rises several storeys looking at once like the stool it was designed to mirror and at the same time looking like a pyramid whose pointed top has been truncated. It gives it a delicate but also a stable look.
The building shows President Kufuor at his "stubborn" and forward-looking best. He would hardly live there himself; it would be completed with only 5 months for his term to run out. So determined was he to leave his architectural mark on the national capital that he got the Indian Government to provide a generous soft loan and some amount from Ghana's national resources to get the project going.
When he presented the proposals to parliament, the critics went straight for the jugular opposing it as though he was stealing the family heirloom and not adding to it! A senior member of the NDC went public to say that should they come to power, they would turn the complex into a hospital! Peduasi Lodge at Aburi is similarly being spruced up to surpass its former glory.
To these additions to the nation's real estate, the president has also asked parliament to approve the purchase of a number of aircraft, including a couple for executive travel, to the fleet of the Ghana Air Force. These have also met with opposition. The standard argument:This is not the right time.
In all these, the president has held his nerves and it wouldn't be much longer before history, good sense and patriotism vindicate his decision.
There are many prospective occupants already out there jostling for the privilege of calling the Flagstaff House home for at least 4 years, starting from January 7 2009.
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