Golden Jubilee House
| The Flagstaff House | |
|---|---|
Flagstaff House and Presidential Palace
|
|
| Alternative names | Golden Jubilee House |
| General information | |
| Location | Accra, Ghana |
| Inaugurated | November 2008 |
| Cost | $ 135-170 million |
Flagstaff House, formerly known as Golden Jubilee House, is the presidential palace in Accra that serves as a residence and office to the President of Ghana. Flagstaff House is built on the site of a building that was constructed and used for administrative purposes by the British Gold Coast Government. The previous seat of government of Ghana is Osu Castle.
Flagstaff House was reconstructed and inaugurated by the government of John Agyekum Kufour with the name Golden Jubilee House in November 2008 when construction was about 70%–80% completed. In January 2009, the incoming government of President Mills moved the office of the president back to Osu Castle and later changed the sign in front of the building back to its original name claiming that the previous government had not used a Legislative Instrument to effect the change as required by law. The Mills government was in turn criticized that the name Flagstaff House which was given to the building by the British Gold Coast government glorifies Ghana's Gold Coast past. The seat of government was moved back to Flagstaff House in January 2013.
The original budget for the reconstruction of $30m was a loan from the Indian government. However, BBC journalist David Amanor reported the construction may have cost as much as $45–50m. Building of the palace was overseen by an Indian contractor who used Ghanaian sub-contractors.
The re-construction of the presidential palace and building by the government of John Agyekum Kufour, who belonged to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), was criticized by the opposition party NDC during the 2008 elections. The NDC government when sworn into office on 7 January 2009 had refused to utilize Flagstaff House, preferring Osu Castle as the seat of government. The house was temporarily used as offices for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Coordinates: 5°34′47.1″N 00°11′18.5″W / 5.579750°N 0.188472°W
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