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With a cloud of mystery still hovering over the gutted residence of ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, his successor, former President John Agyekum Kufuor, has hurled a piece of advice to the authorities, saying: �Don�t rule out anything including the activities of saboteurs and detractors of the former first family�. Such possibilities should not be over-looked as the search for clues continues, ex-President Kufuor admonished, as official investigations involving personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), National Security operatives and germane government agencies get underway, upon the directive of President Atta Mills to Chief of Staff, Martey Newman, to probe the circumstances leading to the devastating inferno. Former President Kufuor�s advice, coming a day after the inferno, adds another dimension to the many theories being proffered by Ghanaians, as the hours elapse and an official clue about the cause of the fire remains out of reach. For Mr. Kufuor, his thoughts about the gutted colonial building are laced with nostalgia, having lived in that particular house during the Second Republic as a deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. He told Oman FM in Accra yesterday that �let me tell you a bit of history. That was my residence in the Second Republic, 1970-71, so I know the house a bit. Of course I also knew that my predecessor, President Rawlings, lived in it for almost 20 years.� Former presidents, he reminded the authorities, are the responsibilities of the national security system, being one-time public figures. �The former president is a responsibility of the state security system. He is a public figure who must be protected always. Once you are privileged to get that high in any society, you become a target somehow. So when you are checking on a list of probabilities, you never rule out the possibility of some miscreants doing something bad to that family,� he said. Taking a swipe at what is generally perceived as a poor maintenance culture in the country, a phenomenon responsible for the run-down nature of many a colonial structure, he said, �I think we all admit that our maintenance culture is rather poor, so I wouldn�t be surprised if it (the gutted building) has not received much attention. As you drive in the neighbourhood, you see many bungalows like this, same designs, I believe same materials so I wouldn�t be surprised if not much have been done to any of them.� The explosions that were heard in the raging fire, prompted a school of thought to ask whether the ex-president�s residence was stocked with ballistic ordnance of sorts. Others asked whether an ammunition depot had caught fire and therefore the intermittent rapid fire and boom sounds. As the search for answers widened, Ghanaians, with an axe to grind with the electricity supply establishment, the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO), have ascribed the cause of the inferno to the erratic power fluctuation that constantly hits the city, especially last Sunday. However, management of the company thinks it is too early and baseless for people to ascribe the cause of the fire to them. An eyewitness had recalled hearing �boom� sounds, explosions which lasted well over 10 minutes with intermittent single burst sounds from a number of firearms. Soldiers and policemen who had rushed to the scene as the fire raged were overwhelmed by the �explosive� sounds and took to their heels, leaving the unfolding situation to firemen to handle. A multiplicity of mysterious fires has visited the country in recent times, giving opportunity to rumour-mongers to postulate all manner of theories. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs fire, which gutted some floors of the once beautiful structure, was one inferno which became a subject of political machinations, with some cynics even pointing at a former minister as being responsible. When the report about the cause of the fire was finally let out, a certain hushed silence took over as the perpetrators of the mendacity took cover, tails tucked behind their hind legs. The Accra Metro District Education Office at Tudu, Accra, was also torched a few months ago, destroying government property worth millions of cedis. The colonial structure once housed the Achimota School somewhere in 1923, and it remains one of the colonial relics in the nation�s capital. The Tema Oil Refinery had one of its loading points set ablaze recently- a fire which consumed two lives. While some concerned Ghanaians think there is more to the official reports that usually come out of enquiries on these incidents, others think that the GNFS should be resourced and equipped to better manage infernos when they break out. In a related development, some important government officials who were not part of the sympathy guest list at the Ridge residence are said to be the subject of gossips in high circles for their conspicuous absence. While some think these are the �greedy bastards� as described by Mr. Rawlings, others say they could be others outside that description.