First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has refunded the sum of GHS899,097.84 to the state, being all allowances paid to her from 7th January 2017 to date.
The action comes a day after the wife of the President, Nana Addo Akufo-Addo, disclosed in a statement on Monday, July 12, 2021, that she can’t accept the new salaries approved for her by Parliament and promised to give back all the allowances paid to her.
A letter from the office of the First Lady on Tuesday announced that Mrs Akufo-Addo has released a cheque to the state to settle all allowances paid to her from January 7, 2017, to date.
Although there’s no pictorial evidence of a cheque to confirm the repayment of the allowances, the statement signed by an Aide at the office of the First Lady, Shirley Laryea, said:
“I am directed to forward, herewith, a Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited cheque number 000002 for an amount of GH0899,097.84 (Eight Hundred and Ninety-Nine Thousand Ninety-Seven Ghana cedis Eighty-Four pesewas) being the refund for monies received from 7th January 2017 to date as allowances given to Her Excellency the First Lady of the Republic.”
Read the full statement below:
The decision by the First Lady comes on the back of the backlash government had received after it came to light that a recommendation for the spouses of the President and Vice President to receive monthly salaries had already been approved by Parliament.
Ghanaians were further livid because it was disclosed that, the First and Second Ladies will be receiving salaries equivalent to cabinet ministers.
The recommendations were made by the five-member Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu committee set up in June 2019 by President Nana Akufo-Addo to make recommendations on the salaries and other gratuities of Article 71 officeholders.
In an earlier statement issued by the Office of the First Lady on Monday, July 12, 2021, Mrs Akufo-Addo said the decision to reject the recommended emoluments was “purely personal”.
In the statement, she argued that she did not request to be paid any allowance and that “she only received that which existed and attached to her status, albeit informally.”
“In view of this, the First Lady, in consultation with the President of the Republic, has decided to refund all the monies paid to her as allowances from the date of the President’s assumption of office, i.e., from January 2017 to date, amounting to GHS899,097.84.”
Meanwhile, the Second Lady, Mrs. Samira Bawumia, has also rejected the new emoluments approved for her by Parliament and has also promised to refund all allowances paid to her since 2017.
“The Second Lady, H.E. Samira Bawumia in consultation with H.E. the Vice President, will refund all allowances paid to her since 2017, and will not accept any monies allocated to her pursuant to the recommendations of the Prof. Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu led committee, as approved by Parliament on 6th January 2021,” a statement signed by Kwame Twum, Senior Aide to the Second Lady announced.
