Mahama refutes claims of receiving GH¢14m ex-gratia

Former President John Dramani Mahama has refuted claims by Mr Kwame Baffoe of the New Patriotic Party that he received GH¢14 million as ex-gratia in 2013.

A statement signed by Madam Joyce Bawah Mogtari, Special Aide to the former President, copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the claim was outrageous and urged the public to disregard it.

“We urge the public to ignore the rants of the said Kwame Baffoe….His claims are false. Former President Mahama never took any such ex-gratia payment of GH¢14 million in 2013 or at any other time during his 25 years of distinguished public service,” it said.

Fortunately, ex-gratia payments were a matter of public record and available in the Office of the Chief of Staff or the Controller and Accountant General’s Department for verification, the statement said.

“It would be surprising if any such payment had been made to the former President and had not been reflected in any of the numerous Auditor General’s reports presented to Parliament since 2013.”

It said the claim by Mr Baffoe, also known as “Abronye” was a decoy to suppress national discussions on the hardship Ghanaians were going through because of the poor management of the economy by the government.

Government could have given a better response to Mr Mahama’s promise to urgently re-look and review issues related to the emoluments of Article 71 office holders including ex-gratia payments, the statement said.

“We want to reiterate the points made by Former President Mahama recently that a next NDC Government will run an administration with a leaner government … than Ghana has ever seen and ensure a cut in waste in everything government does.”

Source: GNA