Paramount Chief and the Agbogbomefia of Asogli, Togbe Afede XIV says he rejected over ¢365,000 ex-gratia paid to him for serving on the Council of State between 2017 and 2020. According to him, it is not appropriate to receive the said amount when he already took monthly salaries for serving on the Council.
He provided these clarifications after members of the public reacted to news of whether or not he indeed followed through with his supposed refund and the rationale behind it. In a press statement on Monday, the traditional leader explained that “I did not think the payment was made to trap me, as is being speculated.”
“I believe it was paid to everybody who served on the Council of State. However, I thought that extra payment was inappropriate for a short, effectively part-time work, for which I received a monthly salary and was entitled to other privileges. So, I was very uncomfortable with it,” he added.
The businessmen man says he explored ways to return the money which hit his account in July 2021, which he successfully effected on March 4, 2022. “After weeks of trying, I obtained advice on how to refund inappropriate payments to the State, and on March 4, 2022, I made the refund into the Controller & Accountant General’s Department Suspense Account at the Bank of Ghana,” he said on the latest statement.
The move, per Togbui Afede, is in line with his long-standing principle against dishing out huge funds for to public officials at the expense of the citizenry.
“I want to add that my rejection of the payment was consistent with my general abhorrence of the payment of huge Ex Gratia and other outrageous benefits to people who have by their own volition offered to serve our poor country,” the statement concluded.
