President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has refunded an amount of GH¢237,974 of his accrued salaries between January to August this year to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department due to the freeze on salary increment for the year 2021.
The President refunded the amount when it came to his notice that the directive he gave at this year’s May Day celebration that no appointee of his government would be entitled to salary increment this year had not been complied with.
The Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, told reporters at the Jubilee House press briefing Tuesday that the President has directed the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei Opare, to ensure that all government appointees refund the amount accrued.
“For some reason, when the President received his accrued salary from January to August this year, it was noticed that the directive he gave had not been enforced”.
“So leading by example, on Thursday Sept 2, he wrote a cheque amounting to GH¢237, 974 to the Pensions and Salaries Account of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to reflect the decision he had taken to freeze salary increment for himself,” he said.
The increment was contained in the report of the Presidential Committee on Emoluments for Article 71 Office Holders, chaired by Prof. Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, but the President’s directive means no government appointee will take benefit from the increment.
Mr Arhin said the freeze on salary increment was a modest contribution of the President and his appointees to help reduce the damage on public finances caused by the ravages of the COVID-19 and hasten the country’s recovery from the effects of the pandemic.
The Director of Communications at the Jubilee House also briefed reporters on the President’s activities for the week and announced that President Akufo-Addo would chair an emergency ECOWAS Summit on the political disturbances yesterday.
He added that the President would today Thursday continue his tour of the regions and visit the Oti and Volta regions to inspect ongoing government projects, cut the sod for new ones to begin, and commission completed projects.
Touching on the One District One Factory initiative of the government, Mr Arhin announced that about 278 factories had been completed, or at various stages of completion
He gave the breakdown as follows: 104 fully completed and in operation, 150 under construction, with mobilisation currently ongoing for 24 factories.
Out of the 278 factories under the initiative, he said 165 factories were new factories being built from the scratch, representing 60 per cent of the total number of factories expected to be built under the initiative.
BY YAW KYEI
