Minority to challenge payment of salaries to 1st and 2nd ladies at Supreme Court

The Minority in Parliament has resolved to challenge at the Supreme court the approval of allowances for Presidential spouses.

Speaking to the media, the Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor disclosed he’s in the process of filing a suit at the Supreme Court over the matter.

“As we speak I’m in the process of filing a writ at the supreme court. Hopefully by tomorrow by this time, the writ would have been filed. We want to interrogate the issue; the committee had no mandate to make the kind of recommendation they made. They acted utterly ultra vires their powers,” he told Journalists on Wednesday.

According to him, the minority chief whip Muntaka Mubarak already pointed out the move was illegal during the adoption of the Prof. Ntiamoah-Baidu committee report of emoluments for the executive.

He maintained that the executive was consequently asked to shelve that portion of the report.

Meanwhile, the Information Minister has said the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, does not approve salaries and benefits for the Executive and, by extension, for the First Lady and wife of the Vice-President.

He has, therefore, describe as misleading, information making the rounds that President Akufo-Addo had given approval for Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Mrs. Samira Bawumia to receive same salaries as Cabinet ministers.

While confirming that there had been an increment in allowances for the spouses of the President and the Vice-President, Mr Oppong Nkrumah emphasised that that was an approval given by the Seventh Parliament.

“The President does approve salaries and benefits for the Executive. Under Article 71, the First Lady and Second Lady are not office holders so no one can determine their benefits under that article.

“However, a committee only recommended that an arrangement for the spouses be made formal and that received approval from Parliament,” he indicated.