The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Ocquaye, has cautioned against scrapping the current arrangement which enjoins the state to build houses for former presidents of Ghana. President John Evans Atta Mills, who supports the scrapping of the arrangement made the proposal to the Professor Ewurama Addy Committee, which he set up to deal with the contentious issue of emoluments for Article 71 office holders. The president suggested that rent allowances be paid to former presidents to cater for their accommodation, beginning from the end of his tenure rather than building plush mansions for them. The Daily Graphic reported that there are indications the committee accepted the president’s proposal, which he submitted in August this year. However, speaking on Citi FM Monday, Prof. Ocquaye said the proposal demeans the work of the president and risks turning quality public servants away from serving their country well. “I believe that the work of the Head of State of the Republic of Ghana should not be considered lightly at all,” the MP for Dome-Kwabenya noted. “If we all knew the enormous benefits, the big difference that a performing president can do to the welfare of this nation, everybody will say give him one house, it is good enough. “Everybody gets an end of service benefit in one form or the other in certain positions, people get pensions and so the political contract of four years is a risky one. The person may not be re-elected. “A contract relationship has special reward incentives and you say you are not going to reward these special incentives then we shall always be bedeviled with mediocrity in our country,” Prof. Ocquaye warned. Meanwhile, a Deputy Minister of Information Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said the president made the suggestion thinking about the well-being and larger Ghanaian working group. According to Ablakwa, the greatest honour for a president is the mere fact that he was voted for and elected by the people and not the plush mansions he will receive after serving the people.