Judges retire on their salaries yet they take ex-gratia - Randy Abbey.
Dr. Randy Abbey, a broadcaster, has questioned why the country's superior court judges, including Supreme Court Justices, are awarded ex-gratia rewards every four years.
Judges, according to Dr. Abbey, are not entitled to ex-gratia because they retire on their salaries.
"...I'm not sure how... The judiciary, particularly the High Court, the Appeals Court, and the Supreme Court (where judges have security of tenure), retires at 65 or 70 (in the case of Supreme Court Justices), and we pay them ex-gratia for every four years they served.
"They (judges) receive an ex-gratia every four years, just like MPs (Members of Parliament) who have served for four years and are about to leave office." Judges, like presidents, retire on their salary, as a result of what we have created with the Article 71 emolument," he remarked on his Good Morning Ghana show, which was observed by GhanaWeb.
Ningo-Prampram MP Sam Nartey George expressed his displeasure with judges receiving ex-gratia.
The MP claims to know of a Supreme Court Justice who received GH 4 million in ex-gratia despite retiring on his pay.
He went on to say that ex-gratia was designed to reward deserving government employees who were leaving office, but that officials' present behavior suggests that the retirement payment should be reconsidered.
Ex-gratia is a term that refers to a payment made in exchange for anything
During John Agyekum Kufuor's second tenure as president, he established the Chinery Hesse Commission, whose objective was to, among other things, draft an emolument package for officeholders based on Article 71 of Ghana's constitution, which became known as ex-gratia.
Every four years, the ex-gratia provides an emolument package to Article 71 officeholders, such as the President, Vice-President, Speaker of Parliament, Chief Justice, and Supreme Court Justices, as a gratuity or "thank you."
Members of Parliament (MPs), Ministers of State, political appointees, and public officials with salaries charged to the Consolidated Fund but specific constitutional privileges are the other Article 71 office holders.
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