Kwakye Ofosu replies Kwamena Duncan's claims that Mahama reclaimed salary deductions meant for CHPS compounds

An aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has responded to claims by Kwamena Duncan that the Mahama-led administration failed to account for some monies deducted from the salaries of government appointees.

In a recent interview on Peace FM, former Central Regional Minister Kwamena Duncan alleged that during his tenure, the former president

Read full articlefound a way to retrieve monies being 10% deductions made from the salaries of ministers and appointees from the Accountant-General and failed to account for same.

But reacting to the claims in a Facebook post sighted by GhanaWeb, Kwakye Ofosu described it as absolute lies perpetuated by the ruling New Patriotic Party and its elements against the former president.

According to him, the NPP has resorted to peddling lies against Mr Mahama and rehashing some lies they told in the past because the former president has promised to review Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution.

"Ever since President Mahama broached the subject of the review of the emolument package of Article 71 office holders in line with demands and expectations of the Ghanaian public, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government and their mother party, the NPP, have whipped themselves up into a frenzy and peddled one unintelligent lie after the other in a bid to douse what they believe will be plaudits accruing to Mr Mahama for his bold declarations on the vexed matter of Article 71.

"The latest in the series of unintelligent lies on the matter has been told by Kwamena Duncan, who on Peace FM's Kokrokoo Morning show claimed that Mr Mahama "secretly went to the Accountant General to take back the 10% salary cuts" he and his appointees voluntarily offered between 2014 and 2016," he wrote.

Giving a historical account of the claims by the former regional minister, Kwakye Ofosu noted that the Accountant-General, who once told Parliament's Public Accounts Committee that he had no idea how the accrued monies were disbursed, was not in the position to determine such in the first place.

"Kwamena Duncan's lie is not new and is only a repetition of lies spawned from the Accountant-General's statement before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament in 2017 that he did not know how the money accruing from the 10% deductions were disbursed and whether they were used for the intended purposes of building CHPS compounds for some deprived communities as disclosed by Mr Mahama in 2014 when the deductions were announced.

"I had occasion in 2017 to dispel these falsehoods when they first surfaced, and I would do so again now, in the wake of Duncan's ignorant and misguided rants. First, the Accountant General's work in the matter started and ended with making the deductions from the salaries of all appointees and lodging same into a designated account controlled by the then Chief of Staff, who was mandated to so do by the said appointees.

"In much the same way that the Accountant General is not expected to know how public workers spend their salaries after he paid it into their accounts, it cannot reasonably be expected that he would be seized with information on the disbursement of the funds raised from the salary deductions," he stated.

Kwakye Ofosu went on to provide details of how some GHC2,1130,718.30 out of the GHC2,190,718.30, which was the total amount accrued from the deductions, were put to use in the construction of new Community Health Planning and Services compounds in various parts of the country.

He emphasised that former President Mahama remains committed to his promise to review Article 71 when elected back to power in 2024 and that "no amount of governmental and NPP lies and attacks.

GA/SEA