Freddie Blay, former First Deputy Speaker of Parliament has waded into the controversy that has engulfed the ex-gratia package for ex-President John Kufuor and expressed his disappointment at the current leadership of Parliament for the manner in which the House has handled the issue so far. Mr. Blay said though Parliament was very much aware of every detail of the package, the leadership of the House is not being open on the matter and rather passing blames and in that process bringing the integrity of the House into public ridicule. “I am sad that this issue is being viewed with partisan lenses and this was exactly what we all wanted to avoid when we were working on this package. “I feel depressed that the leadership of the House is not coming out to explain the issues but making people feel as if former President Kufuor cornered some few people in Parliament and the Committee to do something untoward to satisfy his personal interest; indeed that impression is unfortunate and terribly so. “I do remember that we had several meetings and discussions among ourselves and also with the Chinery Hesse Committee on the matter and this lasted for a period of almost four years and we had representation from both the Majority and the Minority; both sides were there and took an active part. “The Committee was to look into our package and we were to look into that of the Executive and that was exactly what happened, and we need to be sincere about it because there was nothing untoward about the way we handled the proposal,” Mr. Blay told DAILY GUIDE in an interview yesterday. The ex-MP for Ellembelle noted further that apart from the active participation of the leadership of Parliament in deciding on the final ex-gratia package for the executive, the work of the Chinery Hesse Committee had support from the United Nations. He said the eminent persons who handled the report took a lot of factors into consideration and compared its work with what obtains in other countries; especially African countries, before arriving at the final package which was accepted by Parliament. Mr. Blay also registered his discomfort with a number of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Commentators who have described the ex-gratia package as ‘outrageous.’ “Some of them ought to know better and stop talking as if politicians are a bunch of greedy thieves who came to offer voluntary service and deserve no retirement package. “Even if they, the NGOs, who are supposed to be doing voluntary services see nothing wrong when they take home fat packages which are sponsored by taxes voted from other countries and Priests who work for God also have a decent retirement package, what is wrong when a politician gets a decent retirement package?” he charged. The former First Deputy Speaker said if the critics think the contents of the package is too much, they should say so and make a proposal on what the package should have contained so there can be a constructive debate on the matter. He debunked the assertion that the six cars that were proposed for the former President was superfluous and said the said vehicles are to take care of security details, the ex-president’s office staff, his personal use as well as his household. Mr. Blay agreed that Ghana’s economy is not in the best of shapes but was emphatic that the country can effectively finance the proposed package. There was a great controversy in political circles when news broke early this week that Parliament had okayed a proposal from the Chinery Hesse Committee that a retirement package which included two residential facilities, six vehicles, overseas travels, medical and dental services, entertainment, non-taxable ex-gratia, establishment of a $1 million foundation, and other miscellaneous benefits for all former Presidents. A number of Parliamentarians came out to condemn the package and denied ever seeing or hearing of the proposal in Parliament. Source: Daily Guide