Ghana’s first lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo has offered to refund all the allowances she has received since the president assumed office in 2017, following a public outcry over salaries.
The first lady in a statement said that she “decided to refund all monies paid to her as allowances” amounting to 899,097.84 Ghanaian cedis some $151,618.
She noted that she would not accept a salary that was recently approved by the country’s parliament and did not request to be paid and had “only received that which existed and attached to her status, albeit informally”.
The decision to refund the money was in view of the “extremely negative opinion, in some cases, which she finds distasteful, seeking to portray her as a venal, self-serving and self-centered woman who does not care about the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian”, the statement added.
“The First Lady, in consultation with the President of the Republic, has decided to refund all the monies paid to her as allowances from the date of the President’s assumption of office, i.e., from January 2017 to date, amounting to GHS899,097.84.”
“The First Lady has also decided not to accept any monies that have been allocated to be paid to her, pursuant to the recommendations of the Ntiamoa-Baidu committee, as approved by Parliament. She is doing this as a purely personal decision, without prejudice to the rights of others, and not to undermine the propriety of the process undertaken by Parliament.”
Last week, Ghanaians expressed outrage at the decision by MPs to approve salaries for the wives of the president and vice-president for the supportive role they play.
They were set to receive about $3,500 a month, the same amount as cabinet ministers following a 2019 recommendation by a parliamentary committee.
The first lady and second lady have always been given allowances over the years as part of executive privileges.
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