The paramount chief and the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli, Togbe Afede XIV, has declared that he detests the payment of huge ex-gratia to people who have volunteered to serve their country.
In a statement on June 6, Togbe Afede said that the Council of State Secretariat had indicated some money was paid into his bank account in July 2021 as ex-gratia but he was uncomfortable with it.
The discomfort, according to him, stems from the fact that he considers the extra payment inappropriate especially when he was paid monthly salaries together with some other privileges for the period he served as a council of state member.
He revealed that despite the difficulty to refund the money, he was finally able to do so on March 4, 2022, into the Controller and Accountant General’s Department Suspense Account at the Bank of Ghana.
The paramount chief added that he abhors the idea of burdening an already poor country with any more expenses. “I want to add that my rejection of the payment was consistent with my general abhorrence of the payment of huge Ex-gratia and other outrageous benefits people benefits to people who have by their own volition offered to serve our poor country,” he emphasised.
This act of nobility has shocked many Ghanaians who, per several cases of corruption in the country, have given up hope for the future of the nation. Ghana needs leaders like Togbe Afede XIV who understand that it is not prudent for a nation to spend so much when it does not have much. Leaders who will put first the citizenry for whom they occupy leadership positions, and also protect the public purse by not investing it in projects on the grounds of personal promises.
Leaders who push financial resources into developing the youth by paying them for their services, mandatory or otherwise and organising workshops for them, instead of enriching the already-rich the upper class.
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