The Executive Director of the Human Rights and Governance Centre, Martin Kpebu, has described actions taken by the First and Second Ladies to refund allowances paid them as “mark of a very high emotional intelligence.”
He says the decision taken by the First Lady puts to rest the outcry that the proposition from the Emoluments Committee raised.
On JoyNews’ NewsFile Saturday, July 17, 2021, Mr. Kpebu told Samson Lardy Anyenini, the host, that the decision by Rebecca Akufo-Addo is a recognition of the huge disparity between the masses and the privileged few.
The economic conditions of Ghanaians he indicated, were spelt in the Committee’s own report, making the refund applaudable.
“She’s done marvellously by returning the money; that is the mark of very high emotional intelligence because the facts on the ground show that millions of Ghanaians are suffering…So I mean it is very easy to understand why they will be mad at the First Lady being paid such a huge sum of money when in the first place everything that they enjoy at home is paid for by the taxpayer”, adding that the rejection is going to create a “convention” for subsequent spouses.
Meanwhile, Chief Policy Analyst at Ghana Institute of Public Policy Options, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobbey, speaking on the same show also extoled the First Lady’s decision.
He explained his suit was not specifically to the First Lady but the unconstitutionality exhibited by Parliament by approving such recommendations.
Commending the First Lady for being sensitive about the hard economic situations, he nonetheless chastised the drafter of her letter for being “a little bit insensitive to the discussions on the matter.”
He however charged that the office should be supported to run effectively, adding that former First and Second Ladies should not be compelled to refund allowances paid them.
