The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has confirmed that henceforth the wives of the President and the Vice-President will officially receive salaries and allowances following approval by Parliament.
According to him, the payment of allowances to the First Lady and Second Lady is not a new phenomenon.
He disclosed that the allowance payments were instituted under the Kufuor administration, but were only being formalised by the current government.
“President Kufuor, in his wisdom, instituted this because of the bad situations of some spouses of some former heads of states then. President Mills and Mahama even increased the rates of these benefits during their time,” Kojo Oppong Nkrumah to Daily Graphic.
“The truth of the matter is that all surviving spouses of Heads of State, current and former, have always received salaries. Lordina Mahama, Naadu Mills, Matilda Amissah-Arthur, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Faustina Acheampong, Fulera Liman etc have all been receiving salaries since President Kufuor’s time.”
“What has happened now is that the arrangement has been made formal, but that was done legally based on the recommendation by the Emoluments Committee,” the Information Minister emphasised.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah also described as misleading, information making the rounds that President Akufo-Addo had given approval for his wife, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, and the wife of Dr. Bawumia, Mrs. Samira Bawumia to receive the same salaries as Cabinet ministers.
“The President does not approve salaries and benefits for the Executive. Under Article 71, the First Lady and Second Lady are not office-holders, so no one can determine their benefits under that article.”
“However, a committee [on emoluments] only recommended that an arrangement for the spouses be made formal and that received approval from Parliament,” he indicated.
