John Mahama, the NDC’s 2024 presidential candidate, has responded to Nana Akomea’s request that he stop accepting ex-gratia payments from the government.
Akomea is the managing director of the State Transport Corporation (STC).
Speaking on Accra-based Peace FM, Akomea declared that if Mahama wins re-election, he will demonstrate his support for abolishing ex-gratia.
He said Mahama was receiving ex-gratia on a monthly basis.
He said: “So, you, President Mahama, today if you claim you don’t believe in the ex-gratia, the ones that you have taken, we know that you have spent it already, so we can’t say that go and bring it…but the challenge I am giving to him is that the ones that he will be taking from this month May, he shouldn’t take it, he should stop taking the ex-gratia, the same way Togbe Afede stopped and returned his own, he should follow the same principle.”
Mahama stated in a tweet in response to Akomea that he does not receive ex-gratia as Akomea claimed, but rather a monthly pension.
“My friend Nana Akomea. Really sad what politics can do to a fine mind! I don’t take ex-gratia. I receive a monthly pension,” he stated.
My friend Nana Akomea. Really sad what politics can do to a fine mind!
I don't take ex-gratia. I receive a monthly pension.
— John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) May 26, 2023
Mahama previously made a suggestion that the 1992 Constitution will be reviewed in relation to the payment of ex-gratia to Article 71 officeholders by the NDC’s future administration.
According to Articles 71(1) and (2) of the Constitution of 1992, the President shall, on the recommendations of a committee of not more than five members appointed by him and acting in accordance with the advice of the Council of State, determine the salaries and allowances of the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary paid from the Consolidated Fund.
According to the Constitution, Parliament will decide the salaries of the President, his Ministers, political appointees, and members of the Council of State based on the recommendations of the same committee.
The Chief Justice, the Justices of the Supreme Court, the Speaker of Parliament, and the President are all positions covered by Article 71.
