Former President John Dramani Mahama has vowed to abolish the payment of ex-gratia to members of the executive if re-elected in the 2024 elections.
Speaking at the opening of his campaign in the Cedi Auditorium at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, Volta Region, on Thursday, March 2, Mr. Mahama said he will take the required procedures to abolish the payment as soon as he takes office.
“The payment of ex-gratia to members of the executive will be scrapped. The necessary Constitutional steps to take this will start in earnest in 2025. We will also persuade members of the other arms of government to accept its removal.”
He also pledged to deal with “issues pertaining to the exercise of powers of the president, proper separation of powers, strengthening of Parliament, restoring the independence of the judiciary, independent and quasi-state institutions and depoliticizing them.
“These will take the centre stage of the new administration,” he added.
The former president also criticised Akufo-Addo’s administration for escalating the nation’s poverty levels.
The “cluelessness and the harrowing dismantling of our progress by the NPP government has damaged and killed many bright dreams of the country.”
“This government has been clueless and, in many ways, callous. We are saddled with debt, and we have been downgraded by every rating agency and inflation has gone off the roof, sending people into abject poverty,” Mr. Mahama said.
