Presidential spouses’ salaries: Applaud First Lady for being sensitive – Lawyer

Private legal practitioner, Lawyer Chris Ackumey has expressed admiration for the 1st lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo’s decision to reject emoluments approved by parliament.

According to him, the 1st lady has acted with grace and deserves to be applauded for doing so.

He believes her decision is based on the fact that she is witness to the plight of Ghanaians in the era of COVID-19 and will do all in her power to lessen this burden.

“I think I will applaud Rebecca Akufo-Addo for refusing to receive any salary and refund to the state all the monies paid her since 2017,” he told Samuel Eshun.

He compared her noble act to that of New Zealand’s President who reduced her salary and that of her ministers by 20 percent because of the economic situation presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Although the 1st lady does not deserve to be paid monthly in quote because parliament approved the money based on recommendation, she is refunding all monies paid to her from 2017 and we need to applaud her because she is being sensitive to Ghanaians,” she said on the Happy Morning Show aired on e.TV Ghana and Happy98.9FM.

Background

The First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, says she can’t accept the emoluments approved for her by Parliament.

She has thus decided to refund to the state all the monies paid her since 2017 which amounts to GHC899,097.84

This was captured in a statement signed by Korkor Bleboo, Director of Communications at the Office of the First Lady.

“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 GHC899,097.84.”

“The First Lady has also decided not to accept any monies that have been allocated to be paid to her pursuant to the recommendations of the Ntiamoa-Baidu committee, as approved by Parliament. She is doing this as a purely personal decision, without prejudice to the rights of others, and not to undermine the propriety of the process undertaken by Parliament.”

In the statement, Mrs. Akufo-Addo’s Director of Communications argued that the First Lady did not request to be paid any allowance and that, “She only received that which existed and attached to her status, albeit informally.”