First Lady And Second Lady To Receive Salaries Formally
Reports indicate that first lady and second lady will be receiving salaries formally, Oppong Nkrumah confirms.
Initially, spouses of the President and Vice President were paid allowances but the seventh parliament have agreed on paying them salaries.
Rumors had it that, President Akufo-Addo was paying first and second lady salaries but the information minister, Hon. Oppong Nkrumah has debunked such reports and considered it false.
He rather revealed that, the approval was made by the seventh parliament but not a unilateral decision by the president.
Making things clearer, he said, “the President does not approve salaries and benefits for the Executive. Under Article 71, the First Lady and Second Lady are not office-holders, so no one can determine their benefits under that article.
“However, a committee only recommended that an arrangement for the spouses be made formal and that received approval from Parliament,” he added.
Was there precedence?
Hon. Oppong Nkrumah made reference to former President Kufuor’s regime where spouses of Presidents and Vice Presidents were paid allowances but was considered undocumented.
But the allowances given to the two ladies of the executive were considered as part of the privileges of the President and Vice President.
“President Kufuor, in his wisdom, instituted this because of the bad situations of some spouses of some former Heads of States then. President Mills and Mahama even increased the rates of these benefits during their time.”
“The truth of the matter is that all surviving spouses of Heads of State, current and former, have always received salaries. Lordina Mahama, Naadu Mills, Matilda Amissah-Arthur, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Faustina Acheampong, Fulera Liman etc have all been receiving salaries since President Kufuor’s time.”
“What has happened now is that the arrangement has been made formal, but that was done legally based on the recommendation by the Emoluments Committee,” the Information Minister explained.
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