Dr Richard Amoako Baah, a political scientist has said the country should consider getting volunteers to work as members of the council of state.
He said the move will help the country save money as well as encourage only competent people to apply.
Amoako Baah’s comment comes after Togbe Afede XIV returned GHC365,392.67 paid to him as ex-gratia for serving on the Council of State between 2017 and 2020.
According to the paramount chief, it is inappropriate to be paid ex-gratia since he was given monthly wages for serving on the council.
However, speaking on the Big Bulletin on Asaase radio, Amoako Baah said, “The chief has done very well. Even though he has done well, it has exposed the corruption that is going on there …”
He said, “That’s one of the things [ex-gracia] that I don’t think we have to have. We can have volunteers to do it [to be Council of State members] … we have all sorts of institutions to advise the president. Why do we need this one [Council of state]?”
“So, yes, it should be scrapped … we don’t have money…we’ll be surprised how many competent people will apply to do it for free if you put this across. There are people in there who are not competent to be there [council of state],” Amoako Baah added.
“Irrelevant”
Meanwhile, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah, a former UN senior governance advisor has also reiterated calls to scrap the council of state, describing it as “irrelevant” to Ghana’s progress.
His call comes after the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV returned some GHC365,000 ex-gratia paid to him as a member of the council.
Reacting to the development on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (7 June), Agyeman-Duah said: “How relevant is the council of state to the nation’s progress?”
“You assemble 30 people and pay them these much and all they are supposed to do is to review certain things and recommend to the President.
“And the recommendations in the form of advice could be taken or not taken by the president. You appoint some people, you go there and they say ‘yes, go ahead and appoint them’. Have you ever heard over the past 30 years, how many appointees by any president that the council of state has had the courage to say ‘no Mr president this guy has a bad record, we don’t want him’?”
“Have you heard any? Tell me one, and if that is the case and it is going to be a routine approval then why do you send so much money to retain 30 people and pay them that much, does it make sense to you?” Agyeman-Duah said.
Unfair
Agyeman-Duah said the payment of ex-gratia to members of the council of state was unfair to the ordinary public servant.
“The fact still remains that if you serve your nation for four years and you are given such a lump sum, and if you compare that to the other kinds of awards that people are given, people who have served for 30 years, 25 years and they go away and they go to SSNIT and every month they are given GHC 1,000 or less that’s what is happening.
“That’s the fairness in the country, we are breeding a system where the elite continue to exploit the country… by the constitution of the country no ordinary person goes there, they are mostly people who are accomplished,” Agyeman-Duah said.
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