The wives of the president, vice president will receive salaries

First and second ladies, Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Samira Bawumia

• The wives of the president and his vice will now be paid by the state

• This follows the acceptance of a recommendation by an emoluments committee

• Oppong-Nkrumah denied claims the president approved payments unilaterally

The spouses of the President and Vice-President will now officially benefit from the salaries of the Government of Ghana.

This was after the government adopted a recommendation from an emoluments committee which was approved by the seventh parliament.

The new arrangement will see first and second gentlemen’s wives formally receive salaries, breaking with the previous practice of paying them allowances.

Earlier reports had suggested that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo unilaterally decided to pay salaries to his wife Rebecca Akufo-Addo and his deputy’s wife, Samira Bawumia, but the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong -Nkrumah, clarified that the approval had been made by the previous parliament.

“The president approves executive salaries and benefits. Under section 71, the First Lady and the Second Lady do not hold office, so no one can determine their benefits under this section.

“However, one committee only recommended that an arrangement for spouses be formalized and which has received parliamentary approval,” he said. Oppong Nkrumah referred to certain practices in the past where the allowances for spouses of first and second ladies were increased by the executive branch of government.

“President Kufuor, in his wisdom, instituted it because of the bad situation of certain spouses of certain former heads of state at the time. Presidents Mills and Mahama even increased the rates of these benefits during their tenure.

“The truth is that all surviving spouses of current and former heads of state have always received salaries. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Faustina Acheampong, Fulera Liman, etc. all have been earning salaries since the days of President Kufuor.

“What has happened now is that the arrangement has been formalized but it has been done legally on the basis of the recommendation of the Emoluments Committee”, underlined the Minister of Information.

Oppong-Nkrumah further revealed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2019 created a committee chaired by Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu to make proposals on the allowances paid to the wives of the president and his vice-president.

Other members of the committee included Majority Leader and former Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Abraham Ossei Aidooh, Director General of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Dr. Edward Kwapong, the current Director General of the Agency. Internal Audit, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, and a former Managing Director of Donewell Life Insurance Co. Ltd, Ms Stella Segbawu,

The Information Minister stressed that the committee recommended that the wives be paid and this was approved by the seventh parliament.

“This recommendation was then passed on to the Seventh Legislature which then gave its approval and it must now be implemented. It is therefore not true because it is circulating that the president approved emoluments to the first lady and to the second lady, ”he added.