The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Linda Ofori-Kwafo, has opposed attempts to force some former first and second ladies to refund allowances paid them while their spouses were in office.

Parliament in June 2021 approved the Ntiamoah-Baidoo Emoluments Committee’s recommendation to formalise the payment of allowances to spouses of the president and his vice.

The committee had recommended that the First Lady be paid a salary equivalent to a Cabinet Minister who is a Member of Parliament (MP) while her husband is in office and the Payment of a salary equivalent to 80% of the salary of a Minister of State who is a Member of Parliament (MP) if the spouse served one full term as President or 100% of the salary of a Minister of State who is a Member of Parliament (MP) if the spouse served two or more full terms as President.

The committee further suggested that the Second Lady be paid a salary equivalent to a Cabinet Minister who is not an MP while her husband is in office and the Payment of a salary equivalent to 80% of the salary of a Minister of State who is not a Member of Parliament (MP) if the spouse served one full term as President or 100% of the salary of a Minister of State who is a Member of Parliament (MP) if the spouse served two or more full terms as Vice President.

However, the past few days have been rife with concerns by the general public over the implementation, with many questioning the capacity in which such an allocation would be made to the said spouses.

Subsequently, both Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Samira Bawumia have rejected the proposal, promising to refund to the state all allowances paid them from January 2017.

This has sparked public calls for the wives of the President and the Vice President to do the same. But Madam Ofori-Kwafo says they should not be forced.

“It is a personal decision they have taken to return the money. Once there is no law demanding that they refund the money, it is a personal decision”, she told Joy News.

She further stressed, “the rest who have not returned the money, it’s a personal decision, and they shouldn’t really force them to return it”.