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Former General Secretary of the People's National Convention (PNC), Atik Mohammed, has mounted defence for Article 71 holders receiving ex-gratia.

The debate about ex-gratia has been reignited following Togbe Afede's rejection of his ex-gratia after serving on the Council of State.

The Paramount Chief and the Agbogbomefia of Asogli, Togbe Afede XIV, in a statement, indicated that he had returned an amount of GHC365,392.67 for his service as a Council of State member from 2017 to 2020.

His gesture has attracted mixed reactions as while some people are lauding him, others are berating him.

Broadcaster Paul Adom-Otchere is one of the strong critics bashing the Chief for returning his ex gratia.

Paul Adom-Otchere believes Togbe Afede XIV has a lot more money to refund to the State, stating the Chief, out of 242 meetings held by the Council in 48 months, attended only 39 representing 16% but despite his failure to attend majority of the meetings, he “collected all his salaries and other benefits”.

Discussing the issue on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme, Atik Mohammed noted that public service workers deserve to receive ex-gratia which is a Latin word meaning money paid as a favor to recognize a person's end of service, in other words referring to end of service benefits.

Specifically dwelling on Members of Parliament, Atik explained that most Parliamentarians who retire or end their terms in Parliament do not find employment due to the toxic politics in the country.

He explained that they are characterized by their political allegiances, hence many organizations wouldn't like to associate with them.

To him, the ex-gratia is supposed to be a retirement package or support system for them.

He said, "when you end your service, no organization wants to employ you because when it employs you, that characterization placed on you that you are party A or B member follows you daily. So, if someone employs you, because of the toxic politics in the country, they begin to target the organization that has given you the job; therefore nobody would like to employ you. So, the thinking that we should help those who rightly serve their country isn't a bad thing but I have issues with sometimes the structure and the nature of some of these arrangements."

However, Atik stated categorically that ex-gratia should be a one-off payment.

" . . if you are a Member of Parliament, we should have a one-off ex-gratia for Members of Parliament. If you win and you come back to Parliament, you should not be entitled to any ex-gratia because you are still serving and haven't ended your service yet."