The government says former President Jerry Rawlings and his family prefer to have their down residence at Ridge reconstructed. The government is therefore awaiting the final design of a new house to be put up at the old Ridge residence of the former president. According to Information Minister John Tia, when this is done, the government will bear the entire cost of re-construction of a befitting residence for the former first family. The issue of former president Rawlings’ residence was placed back into the front burner Wednesday when Mrs Rawlings told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show that she and her husband were looking for a place to rent pending the fulfillment of government’s promise to properly resettle them. Her comments attracted a terse response from a Deputy Information Minister James Agyenim-Boateng who said the former First Family had on two separate occasions rejected accommodation facilities offered them by the government. He claimed that in one of those cases, Mr Rawlings approved the facility offered but Mrs Rawlings rejected it. That claim by the Deputy Minister also attracted a rebuttal from a close confidante of the Rawlingses, Mr Herbert Mensah who observed that Mr Agyenim-Boateng’s comments were ill-informed or mischievous. He said the rejection of Francis Poku’s residence by the Rawlingses was based purely on security reasons because “the person who was there was a security capo in the previous government. They believed that it was inappropriate for a number of other personal reasons and they made that known at all times.” “Not at any point in time did President Rawlings say that he was happy to stay there and she was the one who said she was not happy to stay there,” he emphasized. In an apparent move to douse the flames and settle the brouhaha, Information Minister John Tia said the government will do everything in the interest of the Rawlingses. He said the government could not have forced the former First Family into any facility they had security concerns about because “if anything happens to them you take liability and you wouldn’t want to visit yourself with such a situation.” Mr Tia said once designs are received a tender process will be activated to find a contractor to execute the job. The Information Minister also said former President J.A. Kufuor will soon be moving into an office accommodation which has been given to him. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana