Bernard Allotey Jacobs has criticized John Dramani Mahama regarding his proposal to eliminate ex-gratia payments as stipulated in Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution.
The disbursement of ex-gratia to members of the Executive, including the President, Vice President, Ministers of State, and Parliamentarians, such as the Speaker of Parliament, every four years has sparked considerable debate, with numerous Ghanaians voicing diverse perspectives on whether this practice should be discontinued.
In light of this, the leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in a recent manifesto, pledged to the public that one of his commitments is to abolish ex-gratia payments.
The ex gratia payments to members of the Executive under Article 71 will be scrapped and the necessary constitutional steps to abolish that payment will start in earnest in 2025…persuading the other arms of government other than the Executive to accept the removal of these ex-gratia members.
President John Mahama is presently reaping the advantages conferred by Article 71. Regarding the commitment to abolish ex-gratia payments, Allotey Jacobs, a former Central Regional Chairman of the NDC, urged Mahama to lead by example by forgoing his benefits immediately, thereby demonstrating his dedication to the promises outlined in his manifesto.
If you say you will remove Article 71, you are currently enjoying from that same Article 71. So, for us to believe in you, let us hear that from today and with immediate effect, you forfeit your benefits from Article 71. It is a simple logic.
