<<Print>>

The Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ms Lauretta Lamptey, has stated that she paid for her hotel bills from a personal loan she contracted from a bank. According to her, she pre-financed her stay at the hotel because it was expected that the state would reimburse her at a later time. Ms Lamptey had sought to indicate the sacrifice she had made by opting to stay in a hotel at a discounted rate. �The renovation of my official residence is delaying, my rent had expired and I had nowhere to stay and so I had checked into a hotel,� she told the Daily Graphic in an interview last week Friday. The CHRAJ Commissioner has come under fire for incurring a monthly rent bill of $5,500, including payments for water and electricity, and checking into a hotel after the rent expired. She told the Daily Graphic that she had to pack out of the AU Village without knowing where to go with her two kids. �I am a problem solver and I�ve to think fast when issues come up or when I�m in a difficult situation,� she said. �I walked out of the AU Village without knowing where to go with my kids. We had to eat from a nearby restaurant before I finally checked in here {hotel}. Before I settled for this place, I had to check the rates of the many hotels around, including Holiday Inn Hotel, and I found the rate of this hotel to be reasonable,� she said. According to her, she chose that hotel because it was closer to her official residence which was still under renovation, three years after assuming the position. Embarrassed But a former Commissioner of CHRAJ, Mr Justice Emile Short, has stated that he is embarrassed by the expos� and called for a drastic measure to redeem CHRAJ. �I have had negative reports from within and outside CHRAJ about the state of affairs and I am very reluctant to speak on her competence,� he said in a telephone interview with the Daily Graphic. According to him, the official bungalow of the commissioner was in good condition when he moved out. He said if there was the need for any work to be carried out on the facility, it would be just painting. �When I left the building, it was in quite good condition. When I entered the building in 1999, it was a newly constructed building. I left in 2010. If there were any renovations to be done, that would be painting and minor things,� he added. �I find the amount spent on the renovation exorbitant and unusual,� Mr Justice Short told the Daily Graphic.