Kufuor clears air on ex-gratia

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has dismissed media reports suggesting that he is complaining about the non-payment of his ex-gratia for eight years by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

Mr. Kufuor, in an interview with Accra-based Joy FM on Monday, December 10, 2018, revealed that he had not been paid his ex-gratia by the previous Mills/Mahama administration after he left office on January 7, 2009.

The interview came just two days after his 80th birthday celebration on Saturday, December 8.

A press release issued by the Office of the former President and signed by his aide and spokesperson, Dr. Kwabena Osei-Adubofour, indicated that even though it’s true that he has not been paid his ex-gratia, he was not complaining about the issue.

It stated that “the reporter sensationally mischaracterized what he said and the circumstances under which he said that.”

“The interviewer, Daniel Dadzie, specifically asked whether Mr. Kufuor’s ex-gratia has been paid. He answered that upon assuming office in January 2009, the late President John Atta-Mills declared that the Chinery-Hesse Report was not approved so it could not be used to pay Mr. Kufuor’s ex-gratia.”

According to the release, “However, at the subsequent vetting of the then new ministers in Parliament, Hon Alban Bagbin confirmed that the report had, indeed, been approved by Parliament. Despite this fact, the two NDC administrations from 2009 to 2017 did not pay the ex-gratia due former President Kufuor.”

“Indeed, former President Kufuor specifically replied the Joy FM interviewer that he had intentionally not brought up the issue with the present NPP government, though he intends to do so at an opportune time. It must be stated here that Joy FM had sought the interview and must therefore eschew sensationalizing it,” it added.