Paying ex gratia to government officials who return to office is wrong – Kwabena Agyepong
Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) General Secretary, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong has stated that paying ex gratia to people who have served in office for a short amount of time and then return to office is unethical.
Ex Gratia, he believes, should be paid solely to those who leave office in perpetuity.
While speaking on TV3 Monday, June 13,2022, Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyepong disclosed that the decision of the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV, to reimburse the ex gratia paid to him for serving on the Council of State between 2017 and 2020 was commendable.
“I have heard of the subject of ex gratia,” Mr Agyepong, who was the Press Secretary to Mr John Agyekum Kuffuor while he was President, stated, “I don’t understand why, if you are a member of parliament, you finish your term, and then return, you should be given ex gratia is commendable”.
He opined that “Ex gratia is when you are going and you are not coming back, it is like a parachute payment for you to survive because you have given so much to the state. So those who have been in Parliament for five, six, ten years like Babgin, Kyei Mensah Bonsu have been taking these ex gratia every year, it is wrong. This is wrong and we have to change it”.
He reiterated “These are things we have to speak about, when you are leaving office forever and you are not coming back then you can be given that kind of payment but you can’t come back and say, it is a second term. I think it is wrong.”
Togbe Afede XIV, a businessman and the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State returned to the state coffers an amount of GH365.392.67 that was paid to him as an ex gratia for serving as a member of the Council of State during the previous term of President Akufo-Addo.
According to the former President of the National House of Chiefs, he returned the money to the state because he was “extremely uncomfortable” with the payment and thought it was “wrong for a brief, essentially part-time job” for which he was paid monthly and had other benefits.
Togbe Afede said the payment came to his attention while he was working on his tax returns at the end of last year.
