The first lady of Ghana, Rebecca Akufo-Addo has rejected recommendations that she be placed on salary, and has also offered to refund all the allowanc
The first lady of Ghana, Rebecca Akufo-Addo has rejected recommendations that she be placed on salary, and has also offered to refund all the allowances she has received since her husband, President Nana Akufo-Addo assumed office in 2017.
On Monday, 12 July, a statement from the office of the first lady said “The public discussion has been laced with some extremely negative opinions, 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.”
“In view of this, the First Lady, in consultation with the President of the Republic, has 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 GHC 899,097.84 (N62m).”
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.
The first lady and second lady have always been given allowances over the years as part of executive privileges.
According to Maravi Post, local media had reported that, the current presidential spouses could be receiving about $3,500 (GH 21,000) which is to be back-dated to 2017.
Not all citizens were happy with news that per the current arrangement the presidential spouses will be receiving the same salaries as Cabinet ministers.
Mrs Rebecca noted that she would not accept the 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.
