About GH¢5 million is being disbursed as ex-gratia to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) who served in the Rawlings-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Kufour's New Patriotic Party (NPP) administrations. Out of that amount, about GH¢500,000 has already been disbursed to 18 MMDCEs who served in the second term of the Rawlings regime who applied for their ex-gratia, while GH¢4.6 million is currently being processed by the Ghana Audit Service to be paid to DCEs who served in the Kufour administration. The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, told the Daily Graphic that MMDCEs who had not yet received their end-of-service benefits could have their money upon application. "MMDCEs could only have their money paid into their respective accounts on the authority of the Chief of Staff only when they formally apply through the ministry and provide the needed information pertaining to their instrument of authority detailing date of appointment after which the necessary documentation would be submitted to the Audit Service for verification," he said. Mr Chireh, who expressed concern with the failure of the NPP administration to pay some former NDC MMDCEs their end-of-service benefits on account of financial impropriety levelled against them, said the proper thing the former administration could have done was to pay them their ex-gratia since they were entitled to them. He was of the view that paying their ex-gratia was one thing and identifying any wrongdoing on their part was another, so there was no basis to deny public officials what was due them. "Public officials who complete their tenure of office have to be paid their end-of-service benefits because they are entitled to their money. They can, however, be prosecuted if adverse findings are made against them, after leaving office," Mr Chireh stressed. Buttressing his argument, the minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Wa West, said although some former ministers in the NPP administration were standing trial, they had been paid their end-of-service benefits. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Dominic A. Azumah, who confirmed the payment of the ex gratia in a separate interview, said DCEs under the previous NDC administration who petitioned the NPP government for their benefits did not receive any positive response until last year when the current administration initiated the process to pay them. Some former DCEs who spoke to the Daily Graphic on condition of anonymity confirmed receipt of their end-of-service benefits in their accounts and heaved a sigh of relief, saying that "at long last we have finally been settled". Source: Daily Graphic