The Member of Parliament for the South Dayi constituency, Rockson Dafeamakpor, has vowed to take legal action over the inclusion of spouses of the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, and Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in the salary structure of Article 71 office holders.
According to him, the recommendation from the Prof. Ntiamoah Badu Commission of Emoluments was rejected by some MPs when the matter was debated in Parliament last year.
He contends that the committee’s terms of reference did not include fixing emoluments for Mrs. Samira Bawumia and Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, hence he is surprised that the committee added that to its recommendations.
He said the committee acted outside of its mandate by making such a recommendation.
“By Thursday evening, the writ would have been filed. We want to interrogate the issue. The committee had no mandate to make that kind of recommendation. The terms of reference of the committee were to review the emoluments of Article 71 office holders. They didn’t tell them to go and review the conditions of persons who do not fall within the bracket of Article 71 office holders,” he said in a Citi News interview.
The five-member Prof. Ntiamoah Badu emolument committee was set up in June 2019 by President Nana Akufo-Addo, to make recommendations on the salaries and other gratuities of Article 71 office holders.
Some Ghanaians are unhappy with the government after it emerged that the wife of the President and his Vice, are to receive salaries just like cabinet ministers.
Some directly chastised the Akufo-Addo government for the development, but Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has explained that the payment of the said allowances is not a new phenomenon and that it was instituted under the Kufuor administration, but was only being formalised by the current government.
In a related development, the youth wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has also kicked against the emolument.
A press statement signed by the NDC’s National Youth Organiser, George Opare Addo, said they won’t allow the recommendation to be implemented and would go to court over the issue.
“It is instructive to point out that we find the attempt to institutionalize the payment of salaries to the spouses of the President and the Vice President as an attack on the constitution of the country.”
“The provisions of article 71 of the 1992 Constitution is elaborate and unambiguous by listing the public officials bound to draw their salaries from the Consolidated Fund.”
