Paul Adom-Otchere, the host of Good Evening Ghana, GEG, has stated that Togbe Afede XIV, only attended 39 meetings out of the 242 meetings of the Council of State in four years.
According to him, the 39 meetings that Togbe Afede was present, in terms of percentage, constituted 16 percent.
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“Of the 48 months, the Council of State held 242 meetings of which Togbe Afede XIV attended 39 [meeting]; it constituted 16 percent," Adom-Otchere said while doing a touchscreen analysis of Togbe Afede's letter explaining why he rejected the inappropriate ex-gratia paid into his account.
He explained, “the Council of State is paid every month and he [Togbe Afede] took all his salaries, of which he is entitled to it. In giving us the narrations, he should have stated that he was unable to attend all the meetings of the Council of State, yet he took all his salaries including his car loan, a waiver from Ghana Ports and Harbour’s Authority to import cars…the amount of monies government [took] off the loans that were paid to the Council of State members are more than the GH¢365k he is talking about, for a person who only attended 16 percent of Council of State meetings...
“If you check the Council of State transportation allowances, Togbe’s allowance was paid as of coming from Ho in the Volta region; some of the members told me that ordinarily, he lives in Accra but he said he was coming from Ho.
“Out of 242 meetings that were held [by the Council of State], Togbe Afede, who chair’s a committee and whose meetings are few – as a chairman he was often not available – attended 16 percent of the meetings and he took every allowance…
To Adom-Otchere, the Paramount Chief and the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli, must be able to refund more than GH¢365k of the money he has refunded.
TWI NEWS
Background
Togbe Afede XIV, Paramount Chief and the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli, has been explaining his intention not to accept over GH¢365,000 ex-gratia paid to him for serving on the Council of State between 2017 and 2020.
According to him, it is not appropriate to receive the said amount when he was being paid monthly for serving as a Council of State member.
"While working on my tax returns towards the end of last year, I received tax receipts from the Council of State Secretariat that indicated that some money was paid into my bank account in July, 2021 as “Ex Gratia” for my four-year work as a member of the Council of State, 2017-2020.
"I applied for and received a statement from my bankers that confirmed that indeed some money was paid into my account. I eventually confirmed from the Council of State Secretariat that the sum of GH¢365,392.67 was paid into my account as Ex Gratia.
“I did not think the payment was made to trap me, as is being speculated. I believe it was paid to everybody who served on the Council of State. However, I thought that extra payment was inappropriate for a short, effectively part-time work, for which I received a monthly salary and was entitled to other privileges. So, I was very uncomfortable with it,” Togbe Afede XIV explained in his statement.
The businessmen man further stated that he explored ways of returning the money which has been in his account since July 2021, which he successfully effected on March 4, 2022.
“After weeks of trying, I obtained advice on how to refund inappropriate payments to the State, and on March 4, 2022, I made the refund into the Controller & Accountant General’s Department Suspense Account at the Bank of Ghana,” he said.
Togbui Afede continued: "In my letter to the Secretary, Council of State, I stated that 'It was a great honour for me to have served on the Council of State for four years, 2017 to 2020. Even though I served as chairman of one of the three committees of the Council, the Economy and Special Development Initiatives Committee, and participated fully in the Council’s activities, I do not think my work merited the payment to me of a colossal sum of GH¢365,392.67, as Ex Gratia, in addition to the salary I enjoyed from what was effectively a part-time job'.
“I want to add that my rejection of the payment was consistent with my general abhorrence of the payment of huge Ex Gratia and other outrageous benefits to people who have by their own volition offered to serve our poor country,” Togbui Afede's statement concluded.
