New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer candidate, Kwabena Agyepong, has pushed for the immediate elimination of the ex-gratia payments made to Article 71 officeholders every four years.
He claimed during an interview with Joy News in Accra that the nation lacked the financial means to support such payments.
Agyepong argued that although people like members of parliament could receive “something tiny” after completing their periods in office, it shouldn’t come in the form of the present lump payment, even for MPs who return to the chamber.
He cited several lawmakers who have profited considerably from ex-gratia payments over the years because of their extended service in the legislature, including Alban Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader and MP for Suame, and Kobina Tahir Hammond, MP for Adansi Asokwa.
He emphasized that such payments should stop right away, since they are immoral in any moral sense.
“Ex-gratia should be like a parachute payment. When you have served your country like a member of Parliament…it’s a difficult assignment. I would say it is like marriage. When you elevate a lady to certain level as a wife and you want to leave, that’s why they let you pay alimony.
“You have to support her. You cannot allow her just to drop because you are leaving. That’s not right. It is not fair. You make somebody an honorable Member of Parliament, he served when he is going home, something little. Maybe he can take the car away,” the former NPP General Secretary said on October 6.
“Not after every four years. I never understood that. If you are coming back it cannot be ex-gratia. I see the Speaker and the likes of Kyei Mensah, they must have benefited a lot. My good friend KT Hammond…that is not right. It cannot be right on any moral standing. We should stop it immediately. We don’t have the money as a country,” he added.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Joseph Asare
