The Commissioner of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has announced moving into her official residence.
In a statement issued to Citi News, Ms Lauretta Vivian Lamptey indicated that on Wednesday, November 26, she moved out of the hotel where she had been lodging since August 2014.
“I wanted to let you know that I moved out of the hotel and into the official residence on Wednesday. This move was scheduled a week ago; before the Daily Graphic wrote about it,” she said.
Ms Lamptey further expressed her reservations about the Daily Graphic’s publication which suggested that she was yet to respond to the two petitions submitted to the Office of the President and forwarded to the Chief Justice, to which she was expected to respond by November 14, 2014.
“I don’t appreciate the impression created by the paper that I was deliberately flouting request from the Chief Justice or ignoring a deadline. That is not true,” she fumed.
According to her, her response to the petitions was submitted on Thursday, November 20.
“The Graphic journalist says he checked on Thursday morning; however it was submitted by 4:30pm. It was indeed due on the Monday but I had asked for an extension of a few days and this was granted,” she explained.
A Daily Graphic publication on Tuesday reported that the CHRAJ boss was still lodging at a hotel with her family three months after her rent expenditure sparked public condemnation.
The paper also reported that over GHC 160, 000 had been spent between August and November on hotel bills alone for the CHRAJ boss.
This revived the debate over accommodation for public officials in Ghana and the lack of judicious use of public funds.
But the Ministry of Works and Housing indicated that it had no alternative accommodation for the CHRAJ Commissioner, adding that the Ministry was not responsible for the expensive renovation of her official residence which had been ongoing for the past three years.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana