Claims of missing 10% salary cuts 'misleading and inaccurate' - Kwakye Ofosu

A former Deputy Communications Minister in the erstwhile Mahama administration has rubbished claims by the Deputy Controller and Accountant General, Kwesi Owusu in the matter of the 10% deductions from the salaries of appointees of the Mahama administration.

According to the Deputy Controller and Accountant General, funds that accrued from former President John Mahama’s 10% salary cut policy which affected himself, his deputy and all appointees, cannot be traced by the Controller and Accountant General.

The Auditor General, in his report on the Public Accounts of Ghana for the year ended December 2015 noted that over GHc 800,000 was accrued in 2014 but the report failed to state the amount for 2015 and 2016.

When he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee of parliament on Wednesday, 9 August 2017, Deputy Controller and Accountant General Kwesi Owusu said former Chief of Staff Julius Debrah per a letter ordered the transfer of the amount in 2014.

" . . As to what they have done with the money, that one is not an area for us to answer because it was not statutory deductions which we should have taken and then say pay to SSNIT or pay to GRA. This one was a voluntary deduction so when you deduct you give it to the one who asked you to deduct on his behalf.”

Mr. Owusu noted further that the action was sanctioned by the Executive, which “wrote that we should release the money and we released the money accordingly . . . let’s say [the letter was] from the Chief of Staff.”

In a facebook post by the Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Thursday morning "any claim therefore that the monies so deducted cannot be accounted for, is most misleading and inaccurate."

Clarifying the claim, he said "a total of GHC2,190,718.30 had been deducted as of the end of December, 2016 and a total of GHC2,130,718.30 had been paid to contractors who had either completed or were working on the CHPS compounds."

Read below his full post on facebook:

In the matter of the 10% deductions from the salaries of appointees of the Mahama administration,the following facts suffice:

A total of GHC2,190,718.30 had been deducted as of the end of December,2016.

A total of GHC2,130,718.30 had been paid to contractors who had either completed or were working on the CHPS compounds.

Regarding the CHPS compounds themselves,a total of 5 had been completed at:

Gympokrom and Kwame Prakrom in the Upper Denkyira East District,Ada East in Greater Accra,Nkwanta Number 1 & 2 in the Western Region and Abontonso in the Afram Plains North District of the Eastern Region.

Another 5 were almost completed at Faso Bator and Supon, in the Afram Plains North District as well as Dome, Gadokope and Samankwe in the Afram Plains South District.

Another one was nearing completion at Tetegu Old Town in the Greater Accra Region.

The last one was at foundation level at Ho Zongo as of the time we were leaving office.

Any claim therefore that the monies so deducted cannot be accounted for, is most misleading and inaccurate.

Background

The voluntary austerity move was announced by the Mahama administration in the 2014 State of the Nation Address.

The pay cut summed up to a total of GHC2.5 million at the end of December 2016.

The amount was deposited in a special account recommended by the former president to be used for the construction of Community-based Health Planning and Services compounds or CHPS compounds.