Former President John Mahama has been branded a “dishonest” man by the Ashanti Regional Chairman for the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako over his promise to tackle payment of ex-gratia.
The Ashanti regional chairman popularly known as Chairman Wontumi hammered that it is unfortunate for a dishonest man like former President John Mahama to talk about ex-gratia review when he had failed to even convince his own wife to return state allowances that she had wrongfully kept in her account till date.
“If you want to be seen as a honest man, then please review your wife’s account and let her return the state allowances that were paid to her and act just like first lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo and second lady, Samira Bawumia have done”, Chairman Wontumi said in an interview with Wontumionline.com.
The NPP Chairman continued that if Mr. Mahama was serious about reviewing payment of ex-gratia, he would have demonstrated it when he was President from 2012 to 2016.
“You were in power for over 4 years and you came to meet a document your predecessor the late former President John Evans Atta Mills left behind on reviewing ex-gratia payments but you did nothing about it. Today you are in opposition so you think you can turn around and come and lie to Ghanaians. We don’t have short memories we would continue to expose you for you to know you don’t deserve to come close to the seat of government again”, he said.
Former President John Mahama has promised that the next National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will champion a review of the 1992 constitution to tackle issues such as ex-gratia payments and reformation of the Judiciary.
The 2020 NDC flagbearer believes the incumbent Akufo-Addo-led government has derailed democratic gains made in Ghana.
Speaking at a meeting with NDC lawyers, the former President assured that if the NDC is given the nod in 2024, the review process of the constitution which commenced during the period of late President Atta-Mills will continue.
Charity begins at home
First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo has refunded all the allowances she received for occupying the position of First Lady.
She took the decision following the political brouhaha surrounding the allowances for First and Second Ladies, both past and present, after Parliament approved and elevated the allowances of the spouses of the President and his Vice, (past and present) to salary status.
The focus of the discussion on emoluments for first and second ladies has shifted to the former First Lady, Lordina Mahama with pressure mounting on her to glean lessons from the actions of her successor Rebecca Akufo-Addo.
