President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has praised his predecessor John Dramani Mahama for his conduct in the transition process despite the controversy surrounding his settlement.

He said the former president's supervision of the transition process has been a credit to the nation and Ghanaians must be thankful to God for such blessings.

Mr Mahama conceded defeat when provisional results showed that he and his party, the Nationa Democratic Congress (NDC), had lost the 2016 elections.

The elections governing body, the Electoral Commission, declared the results of the elections shortly after Mr. Mahama delivered his concession speech at his Cantonments residence.

That residence itself was later mired in controversy after the president requested to be allowed to keep the place as his retirement home.

Public outcry forced him to withdraw the request.

The government will now have to find a suitable accommodation for him after he packed out of the Cantonments residence.

Addressing congregants of the Accra Ridge Church Sunday, President Akufo-Addo congratulated his predecessor for supervising a smooth transfer of power after the elections.

He told the congregation to show gratitude to the former president for following in the "worthy footsteps of his illustrious predecessors, ex-presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor and supervised a peaceful transition of power."

Also in attendance at the service was the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and his wife, Speaker of Parliament, Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye; Finance Minister-nominee Ken Ofori-Atta and Senior minister-nominee, Yaw Osafo Maafo.

Commenting on the public outrage over the benefits of Article 71 office holders, former president Kufuor said Ghana is a country of laws and so "if there is something in there that we do not like, go back and seek for solutions in the Constitution."

"If you want to reform it (emoluments for Article 71 office holders), you have to use the constitutional process...," he added. 

According to him, until that has been done, Ghanaians must stop wasting their time debating matters which have been provided for in the Constitution.