NDC Deny Wrong-doing in Payment of Ex-gratia Awards

ACCRA, March 14 -- The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Tuesday denied any wrong-doing in the administration and payment of ex-gratia awards to some specified political appointees including former President Jerry John Rawlings and his vice, Professor John Atta Mills.

"The payments of ex-gratia awards were made in accordance with the laid down procedures after the office of former Chief of staff had submitted to the Auditor-General for pre-audit a list of the specified officials and details of payments to be made," a statement signed by Mr Kwaku Baah, vice Chairman of the party explained in Accra.

The NDC, therefore, deplore the attempt to use payment of ex-gratia awards to drag the name and reputation of the former president and his vice and the party in general into disrepute and to create the necessary atmosphere for public to ridicule and 'bash.'

Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister for Media Relations in a statement earlier claimed that the Auditor-General's office have detected some irregularity in the calculations of ex-gratia awards, adding that the affected persons have been asked to refund more than two billion cedis representing the difference in over-payment.

Mr Baah noted that it was the same Auditor-General whose pre-audit report the ministry of finance based its recommendation for the payment by the Controller and Accountant-General.

He explained that the Accountant-General consequently caused the money to be transferred into the appropriate account at the office of the chief of staff to enable the individual cheques to be issued to the beneficiaries.

The NDC vice chairman said, "it is, therefore, wrong for the NPP administration to blame the former Chief of Staff for an alleged non-payment of tax on payments passed by the Auditor-General who has statutory responsibility to pre-audit all such payments."

There was transparency on the part of the former chief of staff and the appropriate procedures were dully followed and, therefore, question the bases of the so-called errors.

The NDC expressed its apprehension about the procedure adopted by the present Chief of Staff, Mr Jake Obetsebi Lamptey and the NPP administration for prosecuting the former administration in the media before allowing it to respond to allegations levelled against it.

The NDC noted that Mr Obetsebi Lamptey last Friday drew the attention of the former Chief of Staff to an alleged error in the calculation of ex-gratia awards, ostensibly to create the opportunity for all the interested parties to discuss the anomalies claimed to have been detected including the list of eligible beneficiaries.

"We are surprised at the statement by the Minister for Media Relations, claiming that there has not been any feedback from those directed to pay back the monies, when none of the beneficiaries has received any formal correspondence on the disputed matter apart from a draft forwarded to the former Chief of Staff for his comments."

The NDC, therefore, view the surreptitiously leak to the media and the sudden directive ordering a refund of the so-called excess payments "as not only arbitrary but one more devious ploy to create an impression of wrong-doing on the part of NDC and thus provide fresh ammunition for orchestrated attack on the party."