Nana Akomea, the Managing Director of the State Transport Corporation (STC), has challenged former President John Dramani Mahama, urging him to stop accepting ex-gratia payments from the state, starting from May 2023 this year.
Nana Akomea emphasized that John Mahama should follow the example set by Togbe Afede, a former Council of State chairman, who voluntarily returned his ex-gratia to the government.
Speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo on May 21, 2023, the former National Communications Director of the NPP said that he would demonstrate consistency in his stance on abolishing ex-gratia when he returns to power.
“Some people argued that President Mahama, if you want to cancel the ex-gratia, then return the ones that you have taken…so, for you, let us take it like the advice that they gave doesn’t make sense because that is money you have already spent …look at the kind of insults he insulted people, he said that they are silly, they should know better. He insulted them anyhow.
“Someone that when people share their opinions, and you don’t agree with them, then you insult them.”
He added, “Let me give him one challenge, just one challenge; Togbe Afede said that for him, he doesn’t believe in ex-gratia as a Council of State member, so what did he do? The ex-gratia that they gave him, he returned them to the government…after returning the money to the government, President Mahama praised him for doing that, saying he is a man of principle…so it means that Togbe Afede has principles by returning the ex-gratia.
“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,” he said.
John Dramani Mahama has promised to eliminate ex-gratia for government officials if re-elected in the 2024 general elections.
Mahama previously served as President of Ghana from 2012 to 2016 before losing to Akufo-Addo in the 2016 presidential election. He unsuccessfully ran against Akufo-Addo again in the 2020 election; however, he has been re-elected as the flagbearer of the NDC and has expressed confidence that he can win in 2024 and bring about the changes he believes the country needs.