John Dramani Mahama, the former president, has issued a response to a government official who challenged him to reject monthly ex-gratia payments if he genuinely intends to fulfill his promise of eliminating ex-gratia once elected as president.
Nana Akomea, a former lawmaker and current Managing Director of Intercity STC; said challenged Mahama on live radio last week to stop drawing monthly ex-gratia.
Speaking recently on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo morning show, Akomea submitted: “Let me give him one challenge, just one challenge, Togbe Afede said that for him he doesn’t believe in ex-gratia as a Council of State member, so what did he do?
“The ex-gratia that they gave him, he returned them to the government…after returning the money to the government, President Mahama praised him for doing that, saying he is a man of principle…so it means that Togbe Afede has principles by returning the ex-gratia.
“President Mahama, today if you claim you don’t believe in the ex-gratia, the ones that you have taken, we know that you have spent it already, so, we can’t say that go and bring it…
“but the challenge I am giving to him is that the ones that he will be taking from this month May, he shouldn’t take it, he should stop taking the ex-gratia, the same way Togbe Afede stopped and returned his own, he should follow the same principle,” he said.