The office of Ghana’s First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo has said that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has declined the offer for her to be paid allowances.
In statement dated July 12, 2021 and signed by Korkor Bleboo, Director of Communications, Office of the First Lady, the First Lady has also decided to refund all monies paid to her as allowances from the date of the President’s assumption of office, i.e., from January 2017 to date, amounting to GH¢899,097.84.
The announcement by the office of the First Lady comes on the back of backlash from members of the general public after Parliament approved the recommendations by the Prof Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu-led Presidential Committee on Emoluments for Article 71 officeholders.
The committee which has Prof Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu as its Chairperson, Hon. Abraham Osei Aidoo, Dr. Eric Oduro Osae and Mrs. Stella Segbawu as other members had earlier recommended that the First Lady be paid a salary equivalent to a Cabinet Minister who is a Member of Parliament (MP) while her husband is in office and the Payment of a salary equivalent to 80% of the salary of a Minister of State who is a Member of Parliament (MP) if the spouse served one full term as President or 100% of the salary of a Minister of State who is a Member of Parliament (MP) if the spouse served two or more full terms as President.
The committee further recommended that the Second Lady be paid a salary equivalent to a Cabinet Minister who is not an MP while her husband is in office and the Payment of a salary equivalent to 80% of the salary of a Minister of State who is not a Member of Parliament (MP) if the spouse served one full term as President or 100% of the salary of a Minister of State who is a Member of Parliament (MP) if the spouse served two or more full terms as Vice President.
Since the news of the Committee’s recommendations broke, members of the general public including some think-tanks have expressed displeasure over the recommendation with some of them condemning the Committee for coming up with such recommendations.
Some have also questioned the capacity in which such an allocation would be made to the spouses of both the President and his vice.
The statement from the office of the First Lady reacting to comments from general public over the decision to pay her a s well as the Second Lady, The First Lady, said it was distasteful which sought to portray her as “a venal, self-serving and self-centred woman” who is insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians.
The statement pointed out that the decision by the First Lady, Mrs Akufo-Addo to refuse the offer is a personal one “without prejudice to the rights of others and does not undermine the propriety of the process undertaken by Parliament.
The statement explained that the Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo’s decision was also to restore attention back to the President’s ongoing tour of some regions adding that she will continue to support her husband in the execution of his mandate as President to ensure the development of the country.
Concluding, it noted that the First Lady will continue to support the President, as she has always done, in the execution of the mandate entrusted to him by the good people of Ghana.
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