The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has been asked to apologise to the First and Second Ladies, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Mrs Samira Bawumia respectively, for peddling untruth against them.
The TUC had claimed in a statement that “Salary arrears dated back to January 2017 have since been paid to the wives of President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia”.
But Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, has called out the TUC for peddling obvious untruths.
Mr Arhin, in a Facebook post, debunked the claim, insisting that TUC must apologise for the blunder.
The TUC had claimed the salaries were paid in accordance with the Ntiamoah Committee’s recommendation on ‘spousal salaries’.
“This is what the TUC General Secretary, Dr Yaw Baah, said in a statement dated 11th July 2021. Clearly, he was wrong, as no such ‘salary arrears’ have been paid,” Mr Arhin posted on his wall.
“Can he, therefore, do the needful and apologize to the First and Second Ladies for this false statement?” he asked.
Refund
Meanwhile, an amount of GH¢899,097.84 has already been refunded to the state by First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo as allowances paid her from the year 2017 to date.
This was contained in a letter addressed to the Chief of Staff and signed by Mrs Shirley Laryea, of the office of the First Lady.
“I am directed to forward, herewith, a consolidated Bank Ghana Limited cheque number 000002 for an amount of GH¢899,097.84 (Eight hundred and ninety-nine thousand ninety-seven Ghana cedis eighty-four pesewas), being the full refund for monies received from 7th January 2017 to date, as allowances given to her Excellency the First Lady of the republic,” it stated.
The letter further stated that the First Lady had declined any allowances to be paid to her in the future.
The decision follows what Mrs Akufo-Addo sees as claims “seeking to portray her as a venal, self-serving and self-centred woman, who does not care about the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian”.
Mrs Akufo-Addo, in an earlier statement, had explained that she had “decided to refund all 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 GH¢899,097.84.”
According to the statement signed by her Director of Communications, her decision to refuse the offer is a personal one “without prejudice to the rights of others and does not undermine the propriety of the process undertaken by Parliament.”
The First Lady assured that she would continue to support her husband in the execution of his mandate as President to ensure the development of the country.
“The First Lady will continue to support the President, as she has always done, in the execution of the mandate entrusted to him by the good people of Ghana,” the statement said.
Second Lady
Apparently following the example of First Lady, Second Lady Samira Bawumia has also promised that she will refund all allowances paid to her by the state since 2017.
Mrs Bawumia in a press release issued by her office said she would also not accept any monies allocated to her pursuant to the recommendations approved by Parliament.
