Togbe Afede
The Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV has clarified why he rejected over GH¢365,000 ex-gratia paid him for serving on the Council of State between 2017 and 2020.
According to him, he finds it inappropriate to receive the said amount when he already took monthly salaries for serving on the Council.
In a statement he issued Monday to clarify his refund of the amount, Togbe Afede said the payment came to his notice while he was working on his tax returns towards the end of last year.
The chief said he received tax receipts from the Council of State Secretariat that indicated that some money was paid into his bank account in July 2021 as “Ex Gratia”.
According to him, he duly confirmed the payment of the amount but thought he did not deserve it, but he also found it inappropriate per his principles, contrary to speculations that he returned it because he thought it was to set him up.
“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.
According to him, he explored avenues to return the money which hit his account in July 2021, which he successfully effected on March 4, 2022, adding that “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.
“In my letter to the Secretary, Council of State. I stated that “It was a great honour for me to have served on the Council of State for four years, 2017 to 2020. Even though I served as chairman of one of the three (3) committees of the Council, the Economy and Special Development Initiatives Committee, and participated fully in the Council’s activities, I do not think my work merited the payment to me of a colossal sum of GHC365.392.57 as Ex Gratia, in addition, the salary I enjoyed from what was effectively a part-time job”.
“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.”
These clarifications follow public concerns about the rationale behind the refund.
By Vincent Kubi