{"id":279252,"date":"2016-12-23T18:36:58","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T18:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=279252"},"modified":"2016-12-23T18:36:58","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T18:36:58","slug":"parliament-approves-mahamas-ex-gratia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/12\/parliament-approves-mahamas-ex-gratia\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliament approves Mahama\u2019s ex-gratia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ghana\u2019s Parliament has approved the report of the Presidential Committee on salaries and emoluments for Article 71 office holders including ex-gratia for outgoing President John Dramani Mahama.<\/p>\n

Details of the report are currently scanty because the approval was made in a closed-door meeting.<\/p>\n

Parliamentarians deliberated throughout the week after they resumed from their break on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Per Ghana\u2019s laws, Parliament and the Executive have the mandate to review each other\u2019s ex-gratia.<\/p>\n

Reject your ex-gratia if<\/strong><\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”MBYCvjWMyfm8t6XfRQCXEwv6BF770C5h”]A member of Parliament on the ticket of the outgoing National Democratic Congress, Sampson Ahi on Thursday challenged NPP MPs to reject their end of service benefits<\/strong><\/a><\/span> if they think President Mahama should not be passing last-minute agreements.<\/p>\n

The NPP have expressed concerns about President Mahama\u2019s approval of fresh contracts and appointments despite having less than a month to vacate office and hand over power to president-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo in January 2017.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Eyewitness News<\/strong>\u00a0, Sampson Ahi who is the MP for the Bodi constituency dared the NPP MPs to turn down their ex-gratia if it\u2019s finally approved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are arguing that we are doing last minute loans or programmes what do they say to the fact that we are now working on approving our ex-gratia. The ex-gratia of parliamentarians must be approved by the executive and Parliament will also approve that of the executive. As we speak we haven\u2019t done it. So why are they not saying that because there is a new government we shouldn\u2019t allow the outgoing president to approve the ex-gratia for the parliamentarians?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we behaving as if, if NDC does anything, it is criminal but the NPP will do it and nobody can say anything about it,\u201d he quizzed.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Godwin A. Allotey & Duke Mensah Opoku\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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Follow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
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