The payment of ex gratia to members of the Council of State should be reassessed to reflect current economic realities, according to Nana Adjei Ampofo, a former member of the council.
He stated that the review should look at the amount of money paid to the members, adding that the sum was on the high side based on the figures he had at the time.
"I feel that former and present members of the council have been hearing the views of Ghanaians on the ex gratia," Nana Ampofo, a 45-year legal practitioner, said. Despite the fact that many individuals believe that the payment is justifiable, they nonetheless believe that the payment should be revised downwards in light of the country's economic circumstances."
Nana Ampofo, a former Omanhene of the Goaso Traditional Area, sat in the Council of State twice from 1993 and 2001, representing the erstwhile Brong Ahafo Region.
Context
He talked with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, following the return of an ex gratia payment of GH365,392.67 made to a former member of the council, Togbe Afede XIV, which rekindled calls for the payment to be scrapped.
Togbe Afede, the Agbogbomefia of Asogli, said why he returned the money: "I did not believe the payment was meant to trap me, as is being claimed."
speculated. Everyone who sat on the Council of State, I suppose, received it. However, I felt that the additional money was improper for a brief, essentially part-time job for which I was paid monthly and had other benefits, so I was quite uncomfortable with it."
There will be no scraping.
Nana Ampofo does not agree with the idea of abolishing ex gratia payments to members of the Council of State.
"They deserve it," he asserted, noting that while the members of the council, who were all Article 71 holders, worked part-time, the job they did was more valuable than that of certain full-time professionals.
Nana Ampofo described Togbe Afede as a very honest guy, saying, "I am a very honest person." He refunded the money, which I was not shocked about."
The Council is still important today.
He insisted that the Council of State was still important in the nation's affairs.
He said that, despite the fact that the President appoints advisors for nearly every aspect of national development, the advisors could not assume the council's responsibilities as required by the Constitution.
Although some of the advisers were courageous and willing to deliver good counsel to the President, others were so politically blinded that they disregarded numerous crucial concerns, according to the lawyer and former paramount commander.
"While the President may have friends who can counsel him, we need a formal group of advisers or an advisory body that will be required to be nonpartisan." Despite the fact that you are unable to have it The council's makeup is such that when members make decisions, they are supposed to be fair and nonpartisan. "I can declare categorically that, to a considerable extent, some of them are fair and non-partisan," he remarked.
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