Salary Saga : I’ll refund every money paid to me- Rebecca Akufo-Addo

First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Second Lady Samira Bawumia have rejected and promised to refund emoluments paid to them by the state after backlash and intense pressure from the public.

This follows public backlash that greeted approval and payments of salary, allowances and emoluments equal to that of a cabinet minister to the First and the Second Lady Samira Bawumia from 2017.

Three separate cases have already been filed at the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the approval and payments by Bono Regional NPP Chair Kwame Baffoe (Abronye DC), South Dayi MP Lawyer Rockson Nelson Dafeamakpor, Builsa South MP Dr. Clement Apaak and ASEPA.

But, a statement signed and issued by the First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo said “she does not want the payments of salaries, allowance and emoluments to her, to destroy the good work her husband has been doing. I’ll refund all monies paid to me and I don’t wants to be portrayed as someone who doesn’t care about the ordinary Ghanaians”.

For her part, Samira Bawumia in a statement issued on Tuesday 13 July 2021 said “The Second Lady in consultation with the Vice president will refund all alliances paid to her since 2017 and will not accept any monies allocated to her pursuant to recommendations of the Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu Committee as approved by parliament on 6th January 2021”.

Meanwhile, Civil Society group ASEPA says it has written to Controller and Accountant General’s Department to cross check if the First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo has refunded the allowances to the state “.

ASEPA’s Executive Director Mensah Thompson noted that “We’ll cross-check the refund by applying the Rights To Information Law to ascertain if she has paid all the allowances to the state “.

Source : africaneditors.com