Social commentator, Bernard Allotey Jacobs, has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to set up a committee to look into the claims by former President John Dramani Mahama that he has not been receiving his full retirement benefits.
In an interview on Peace FM’s “Kokrokroo”, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, Allotey Jacobs said that if the claims are true, then it means that the former president is using his retirement salary to pay for his office accommodation and other expenses, which is worrying.
“We have to check out these facts and see if the claims by Mahama that he pays his own bills are true. If these claims are true, then it means he uses his pension for these things. I am very skeptical about the facts
“The government should set up a committee to look into it. Because all payments made normally go through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department and the Auditor-General also audits it.
“So, these two organizations must be asked to bring out details of the payment they have made to Mahama. After they bring out the facts, then we will know whether what the former president is saying is true,” he said in Twi.
Former President John Dramani Mahama, while responding to claims by the NPP chairman for the Bono Region, Kwame Baffoe Abronye, who claimed he (Mahama) has been paid millions in lieu of ex-gratia payments, disclosed that he is not fully benefitting from the emoluments he is entitled to as a former Head of State.
He said that all he receives from the government currently is his monthly pension and that all other bills the state must cater for have not been attended to since he left office in 2017.
In an exclusive interview with TV3, Mahama said he is currently footing a myriad of bills, among others, his own light bills, fuel, office rent, and travel bills.
“They haven’t given me an office, I rent an office in East Cantonments, I pay the rent myself, I pay for my own fuel, the state doesn’t give me fuel. I pay my own domestic staff, I pay my own medical bills. I pay for my own air tickets when I travel,” he added.
ghanaweb.com
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