Asking Mahama to return exgratia for promising to scrap it is belittling the issue – Manasseh

According to renowned investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, asking former President John Mahama to return ex-gratia payments he previously received in exchange for his promise to take steps to end such payments is trivialising the problem of such payments.

When John Mahama first announced his bid to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC), he promised to end ex-gratia payments to workers under Article 71 who are entitled to them.

But New Patriotic Party (NPP) activists and others, such as lawyer Martin Kpebu, have urged him to demonstrate his commitment to keeping his word by first repaying all ex-gratia payments already made.

Manasseh Azure Awuni, in an article on the issue, said: "Just because John Mahama benefited from the ex-gratia, doesn't mean he can't think differently now. He is free to feel differently about the number of ministers, even though his previous government had more than 60 ministers and deputies.”

I'm not going to make fun of him. Ghanaians have strong feelings about ex-gratia. Everyone seems to agree that it is wasteful and should be abolished, especially for some political office holders.

A president-elect who intends to abolish or reduce the number of beneficiaries should be urged to do so. I'm not going to make fun of him. I'm not going to tell him to give back everything he's benefited from. That diminishes the conversation.

He went on to say that as we work to create a better society, John Mahama deserves to be supported in his efforts to right wrongs.

"Citizens and civil society have a duty to criticise duty bearers in order to build a strong democracy. They also have a duty to support those who seek to enact laws that serve the needs of the people.

I will urge John Mahama to push through more measures that will clean up our political system. If he wins, we can monitor him and his team as they implement them," he continued.

Meanwhile, John Mahama's past gratuities are being refunded, sparking a confrontation between NPP and NDC activists.