A Special Aide to the President, Nii Lamptey Vanderpuije, has claimed that even though the government has made provisions for ex-President Kufuor's ex-gratia, the former president has refused to take the package. According to him, his checks at the office of the President confirm his claim. “Was he not given a car and he rejected (it)?” he asked. Though he admitted the ex-president has a constitutional right to his ex-gratia, Nii Vanderpuije noted that he does not exercise any right to choose what he wants. He was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana Programme, in response to reports about a fully furnished bungalow that has been allocated to Ghana’s second lady Lordina Mahama. The bungalow is located at Cantonments in Accra. Mrs Lordina Mahama was given the bungalow which she is using as an office in addition to a 24-hour police guard. In view of this development, Mr Gabby Otchere Darko, who is the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, questioned whether “the state can afford a house for the second lady but cannot afford an office for the ex-president”. This was in reference to the brouhaha surrounding the former president's office which national security confiscated from him citing security concerns. Mr Otchere Darko said it is untrue that former President Kufuor had been paid his ex-gratia, adding that the Mills led government has refused to pay the ex-president his entitlements due to sheer vindictiveness. He queried whether the former president cannot express his view on the location of an office due him, adding that government is trying to make excuses to explain its malice. He expressed worry at “our way of politics as Ghanaians” stressing that “we need to find a ground that is national.” The penchant to vilify every move by an opposing party was inimical to the progress and development of the nation, he contended. Dorcas Efe Mensah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana