It has emerged that President Mills' entourage to the United Kingdom last week consisted of 30 persons. Joy News' Israel Laryea who was on the trip said the officials on the entourage were 20, in addition to seven journalists and three security personnel. There has been a huge controversy surrounding the actual number of people on the delegation with newspapers quoting varying figures. Government has refused to state the number of people on the trip, maintaining that the size was "modest". Presidential Spokesperson Mahama Ayariga who spoke to Joy FM's Super Morning Show host Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah on Monday, stressed the need for emphasis to be placed on the issues that were discussed during the visit and its success instead of the size of the delegation, which for him did not matter. "I will avoid any effort to be distracted to divert attention and focus unnecessarily on what could have been the size of the government delegation," he told Kojo. "I am quite surprised by the amount of energy and effort that is going into making the size of the president's team an issue in this particular trip considering how important the issues of the economy are, issues of education and how successful the discussions around these issues have been." These responses provided room for critics of the government to feast over the issue of the size of the entourage with some making claims regarding the cost of the trip on the Ghanaian taxpayer. But Israel Laryea said he did not know how much the trip cost the country. Government said the bills of about 11 officials were borne by the British Government. The New Crusading Guide newspaper reported that the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Dr. Nicholas Westcott has confirmed this. "The president and a fixed number of his entourage were in the UK at the expense of the British Government," the paper quoted Dr. Westcott as saying. Away from the controversies, Israel Laryea said the Ghanaian Community in the United Kingdom was largely impressed by the president's speech to them. A number of them who spoke to Joy News said the president's speech was inspiring and focused on essential things that matter to Ghanaians. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com