The payment of ex gratia to members of the Council of State is a matter of policy and should be regarded as such, former Chief Justice and member of the Council, Sophia Abena Boafoaa Akuffo, has intimated.
She says as a matter of policy, the benefit is enjoyed by members since they fall under the Article 71 office holders whose post-service emoluments are determined by a committee set up by the President.
According to her, since members on the Council fall under the Article 71 office holders, they cannot be exempted from the recommendations made by the committee set up by the President to oversee the emoluments of that category of people.
Madam Akuffo was commenting on the calls by a section of the public that holders of the office do not deserve to be given an ex gratia, especially when the Council itself has outlived its usefulness.
Some have even called for it to be scrapped, citing its existence as only draining the public purse especially when the advice it grants the President is not binding on him.
Speaking with Keminni Amanor on Hot Issues on TV3 Sunday, February 23, 2025, the former Chief Justice said “this matter of ex-gratia is one of a policy and I have not actually dealt into the rationale of the current policy.”
“Sometimes we just get into certain practices and we just do it. Because the Council of State also comes under the Article 71 office holders, that group of people, it’s really the recommendations which get made by the committee that the President sets up under the Article. That is what has generated all of these,” she explained further.
She cited her service days on the bench as an example where she said she was not expecting any ex-gratia but rather a recommendation that had been made to be given to her after her service.
“For example, throughout the time I was actively on the bench for 24 years, no one was expecting ex-gratia, anything. All you know was at the end of your service, there was a certain recommendations that had been made,” she stated.
Speaking on the calls for the scrapping of the Council, she said it should rather be revised to make it a legislative chamber to serve the nation’s democracy well.
When decisions on key sectors of the economy such as finance, security and others come up, Madam Akuffo says the chamber could be consulted to have a say on it before such decisions are approved.
This, she said, would put the Council of State in a better perspective than to totally scrap it as being demanded by a section of the public.
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