Government has confirmed stopping cheques for additional payments of gratuities to former ministers of state. In a statement issued in Accra and signed by the Deputy Minister of Information, James Agyenim Boateng, the cheques were stopped following “advice from the Auditor-General’s Department that it had detected some discrepancies in the computation of the benefits.” The reaction comes after some former officials, whose gratuities had not been paid in full, threatened to take on government. However, the statement issued by the Information Ministry said the “discrepancies arose following a different computation used by Parliament in paying Members of the last Parliament as opposed to that used by the Office of the President to pay members of the former executive.” “Consequently, the Auditor-General’s Department has advised that the Bank of Ghana should in the meantime withhold payments pending audit verification. Government emphasized that all former MPs and ex Ministers have received payment of their benefits. What is at stake is a claim by former Ministers of State that they were underpaid compared to their colleagues in Parliament who were not Ministers.” In a later interview with Joy News, Mr Agyenim Boateng said the ex-officials were put into three categories namely: Members of Parliament, “who were paid end of service benefits, installation grants and resettlement grants by Parliament; Members of Parliament who were ministers, who were paid end of service benefits by Parliament whilst their installation grants and resettlement grants were paid by the Office of the President. The third category are ministers who were not Members of Parliament and were paid end of service benefits, installation grants and resettlement grants by the Office of the President. Mr Agyenim Boateng assured the affected ex-officials government will expedite action to ensure closure is brought to the issue. Source: Myjoyonline.com/Ghana