First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo has "decided not to accept any monies that have been allocated to be paid to her pursuant to the recommendations of the Ntiamoa-Badu Committee, as approved by Parliament".
The committee had recommended that the First Lady be paid a salary equivalent to 80% as a cabinet minister who is also a member of Parliament.
Meanwhile, Parliament has approved that the wives of the President and Vice President should receive salaries.
This recommendation has, however, generated fury and an avalanche of criticism against the ruling government.
Mahama's take
In an article on his Facebook page, former President John Mahama described as 'problematic' "an attempt to sneak the First and Second Ladies into the article 71 office holders’ group"
According to him, the challenge is that the spouses of the President and Vice President are not captured among Article 71 Office Holders and, therefore, there is no legal or constitutional basis for it.
"It should be noted that the recommended salaries for the Spouses in the Ntiamoa-Baidu report are captured as part of the emoluments of the President and the Vice President. This seems like an attempt to sneak the First and Second Ladies into the article 71 office holders’ group. This is clearly problematic".
1st Lady's decision to refund
In a statement dated 12th July 2021, the 1st Lady described the “extremely negative opinions” from critics which is seeking to portray her as a “self-serving and self-centered woman” as "distasteful”.
In view of this, she "in consultation with the President of the Republic, has 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.”
"She is doing this as a purely personal decision, without prejudice to the rights of others, and not to undermine the propriety of the process undertaken by Parliament" the statement added.
Read the full statement below
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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I'm very much disappointed that no Ghanaian, the know-it-all better activists, are not acknowledging the recommendation that the First Ladies be paid salary as a policy of the President in light of his resolve to fight against corruption. It invariably gets rid of all the ditches, likely to present conduit for breeding corruption. It is only expedient to regulate emolument, just as to be accountable, and assessable for transparency. Disappointingly, no word has been lost on those attributes. Unfortunately, the fabrication of lies and trivializing issues for parochial political gains have sadly been the mainstream opposition partisan politics. At the expense of issue-based debates and constructive criticism for which democracy strives. The NDC as an opposition party bitterly lacks all those good attributions and credentials of democratic Governance in our part of the world. Theirs has always been maligning the ruling Government dreadfully, assuming the very worst about it to get it out of Government. This tactic of diabolism seems pretty much not to be working this time while it poses to work counterproductively against the NDC. And, I confidently put it on the wall that the next administration is going to be formed by the NPP. Then, the industrialization program of the Akufo-Addo regime is transformational and needs to be continued with competent hands.
They simply don't need this money. The money has been sitting in Mummy Rebecca's account without any use for it so why not, she can quickly return it!!!!!
@Kofi by mentioning the hypocrisy of the NDC without adding that of the NPP makes you a hypocrite because they all have hypocritical attributes.
Dear FirstLady, pls don’t return that money. Pls at least use it to put up a structure, even a class room block will do cos someone will chop it for feee if u return it😭😭😭😭😭
There are two sides to this issue: 1. The first is the hypocrisy of the NDC to always construct a negative narrative, packaged as a caring disposition towards the people - when in fact they had or would have done worse. It is now becoming clear Mahama was paying consistently, a monthly amount of money to 1st Lady Lordina and 2nd Lady Matilda. As usual, their "akatamanso" covered this, and the Ghanaian people did not get to know. This president decides to bring "transparency" to the practice and all hell breaks loose. Yet, perhaps it is for a good reason hell has broken loose, and that leads to point 2: Our politics has become violent and chaotic because it is an easy pathway to riches (usually not the case for the president and vice, and their spouses who often would have made a fortune already from their previous lives). At the same time, the whole electoral process, presidential and parliamentary systems, ministers and the so-called article 71 people are designed to enrich those who manage to get there. We need to take that article down now. If it was meant to entice people into politics, it has now outlived its purposes. At this stage in our national life, politics should be reserved for the experienced professional who are ready to SERVE the country. It is certainly not a good report about our society that everyone tries to extract the maximum amount of resources and riches from this country, without first thinking of what they could do FOR the country. When we DE-CONGEST the ruling class by downsizing their remuneration, it will only become attractive to people with the heart to serve and not those looking out for the riches it provides. The ripple effect will be huge. No do-or-die politics, no Atiwa, no Ayawaso, no Ejura. Only then will good people with real servant leadership emerge to move this country in the right direction. And yes, people looking for money will now be engaged in the productive sectors of our economy. That's how you build a nation!