Deputy Presidential Spokesperson, Shamima Muslim has clarified the scrapping of fuel allowances for government appointees.
President Mahama on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 directed the cancellation of payment of fuel allowances and allocation of fuel to all political appointees.
Speaking in an interview on TV3’s NewsCentral, Tuesday, July 15, 2025 Shamima explained that the directive will not affect state travels and official assignments to be carried out by government appointees.
She emphasised that the directive only applies to weekly or everyday allocation of fuel allowances to state officials.
Shamima Muslim noted that government will provide fuel for officials in cases where state intervention is needed.
“The exemption is that there will still be room for some regulated official travel and assignments. For those regulated official travel and assignments, there will be room for the state to provide fuel for those particular travels,” she stated.
The Deputy Presidential Spokesperson noted that government will subsequently provide a written frame work for the implementation of this directive such that all appointees are aligned with the kind of travels and duties that would require state intervention.
“…but otherwise, everyday commute to and from work, it is not government that will provide work for those ones,” she added.
She highlighted that government’s decision is in line with its symbolism to practice what it preaches and show leadership in action.
Shamima disclosed that government is currently computing the cost it will save as a result of this directive and make the information available to public once it is ready.
“As we speak the exact cost is still being computed and we will make it available to the public as soon as it is ready as the directive was given today, it will take a few weeks to put the total cost together because the budgeting year has not ended,” she noted.
The directive, she takes effect today and will affect all fuel allocations which have not been disbursed yet.
“Effective today if you went to take your allocation for the week if you hadn’t done it yesterday and you went to take allocation for the week to the extent that the directive has reached the fuel dispensers and their managers, you might not be able to take your allocation as of today.”
