Ex gratia meant to discourage corruption – Ayikoi Otoo

The main idea behind the institution of the ex gratia regime is to discourage corruption while encouraging integrity among Article 71 office holders, former Attorney General Nii Ayikoi Otoo has said.

Article 71 office holders include the president, the vice-president, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice, and justices of the Supreme Court.

The rest are Members of Parliament (MPs), Ministers of State, and political appointees. It also includes public servants with salaries charged to the Consolidated Fund but enjoying special constitutional privileges, such as the Auditor-General, the Chairman and deputy chairmen of the Electoral Commission, the commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and his deputies and the District Assemblies Common Fund Administrator; the chairman, vice-chairman, and the other members of a National Council for Higher Education howsoever described; the Public Services Commission, the National Media Commission, the Lands Commission, and the National Commission for Civic Education.

Article 71 (1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that the determination of the salaries and allowances of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary paid from the Consolidated Fund would be determined by the President, on the recommendations of a committee of not more than five persons appointed by him and acting upon the advice of the Council of State.

In determining the salaries of the president, his ministers and political appointees, as well as the members of the Council of State, the Constitution states that Parliament will make that determination based on the advice of the same committee.

The recent controversy over the payment of ex gratia to four former top-level management members of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation resuscitated arguments about the propriety of the ex gratia regime.

Speaking on Class91.3fm’s Executive Breakfast Show on Monday December 7, Mr Ayikoi Otoo explained to host Ekow Mensah-Shalders that the ex gratia system was instituted to assure all those deserving of it that their retirement packages were assured, and thus there was no need for them to engage in corrupt activities while in office.

According to him, the most important question that Ghanaians need to be asking is whether such office holders are refraining from corruption despite the fact that they had an assured retirement package which has been designed to ensure they are well catered for when they leave office.