Former Member of Parliament for Effia, Joseph Cudjoe, has questioned whether President John Dramani Mahama has abandoned the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) campaign promise to abolish ex-gratia payments for Article 71 office holders.

In a statement, Mr Cudjoe argued that the government's White Paper on the Constitutional Review Committee's recommendations suggests that the promise has been dropped.

The former Minister for Public Enterprises noted that while the NDC made the abolition of ex gratia one of its flagship campaign promises ahead of the 2024 general election, the White Paper does not propose eliminating the benefit.

According to him, the White Paper instead recommends the establishment of an Independent Public Emoluments Commission to determine the salaries, allowances and benefits of Article 71 office holders.

He further pointed out that the document explicitly refers to the President's retirement gratuity and proposes that it be exempt from tax, which he said indicates that ex-gratia payments are expected to continue rather than be abolished.

Mr Cudjoe maintained that although the Constitutional Review Committee did not recommend scrapping ex-gratia, the NDC had gone beyond the committee's proposals by promising Ghanaians that it would abolish the benefit.

"The unavoidable conclusion is that President Mahama has, at least so far, scrapped his promise to scrap ex-gratia," he stated.

He added that if the government still intends to fulfil the pledge, it should amend the White Paper to explicitly provide for the abolition of ex-gratia and introduce the necessary constitutional amendments.

The former minister argued that until such steps are taken, Ghanaians have every reason to believe the campaign promise has been abandoned.

"On ex-gratia, the White Paper speaks louder than the campaign platform. And what it says is unmistakable: the promise to scrap ex-gratia has itself been scrapped," he said.