Akufo-Addo refunds GHS237,974 from his salary to the state
President Akufo-Addo in his bid to lead by example has refunded an amount of two hundred and thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and seventy-four cedis (GH₵237,974) to the Controller and Accountant General.
This amount represents an increment recommended by the Prof Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu Emoluments Committee which was paid to him, Mr Eugene Arhin Director of Communications at the Presidency revealed while addressing the media.
This move by the president was also in line with the directive he gave during the MayDay celebration that increment of his salary and that of the entire executive would be frozen to deal with the economic situation Covid-19 has plunged the nation into.
But upon receipt of his accrued salary from January to August 2021, the pay rise recommended was included.
In showing leadership by example, on September 2, he sent a cheque of the said amount to the Controller and Accountant Generals department.
The Chief of staff had been instructed to let the Vice President and other ministers of state follow the same tangent.
Prof Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu Emoluments Committee in June of last year recommended that the salaries of Article 71 officeholders be increased. According to their recommendations, the President was to be put on a salary of GH₵47,277, a GH₵17,378 upward adjustment from the current GH₵29,899. Some of the other persons who were to benefit from the increment were the Vice President, Ministers of State, Speaker of Parliament, Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court.
The rest are Members of Parliament, political appointees and public servants whose salaries are charged to the Consolidated Fund and who enjoy special privileges.
A recommendation to pay salaries to the first and second ladies was faced with public uproar leading to the wife of the President and that of the Vice President refunding what was paid to them to the state.
