First and Second Ladies, Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Samira Bawumia
The Minority in Parliament wants the Auditor-General to probe the accounts of spouses of the President and the Vice President.
The call, made yesterday at a press briefing in Parliament by the NDC MPs, comes amid the raging controversy over the recommendation by a presidential commission—which was subsequently approved by Parliament for the payment of emoluments to spouses of the President and the Vice President.
Both spouses have now said they will decline the payments and have also offered to refund all allowances paid them by the state since 2017.
Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the First Lady, is already said to have issued a cheque of GH¢899,097.84 to the state to cover her refund.
The Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi, called on the Auditor-General to verify the source of the money refunded by Mrs. Akufo-Addo to “ascertain that the money she refunded is the actual money received and to also compute the interest accrued.”
He said the Minority will officially petition the Auditor-General to conduct the audit.
Majority response
In a response to the Minority’s call, the Member of Parliament for Nhyiaeso, Stephen Amoah, said allowances have been paid to presidential spouses since the 1990s under President Jerry John Rawlings, adding that there was no legal framework backing it.
“However, under the current president, they sought to regularise and legalise the entire structure,” he said.
On the call for the audit, he stated: “I agree to what they are saying, but we must start from all the first ladies; it cannot be only one. We should start from Lordina Mahama [wife of former President John Mahama].”