Alban Bagbin Reiterates Calls For Abolishment Of Ex Gratia For Article 71 Officeholders
- The speaker of Ghana's parliament, Alban Bagbin, has reiterated calls for the abolishment of ex gratia payments to Article 71 officeholders
- He said the payments no longer serve the purpose for which they were intended
- Ex gratia payments, he revealed, were to deter public officers from engaging in corruption; however, the mechanism has failed
Alban Sumana Bagbin, the speaker of parliament, has called for an end to ex gratia payments to Article 71 officeholders.
He insisted that the payments no longer serve the purpose for which they were intended.
Source: Facebook
He said the ex gratia payments were intended to deter public officeholders from engaging in corruption; however, events in the Fourth Republic have proven that the mechanism has woefully failed.
Bagbin said that instead of upholding the public’s interest in the conduct of their duties, some public officeholders have continued to engage in selfish conduct, betraying public trust.
He noted that, as a result, there is no need to continue dishing out huge chunks of cash to officeholders who continue to perpetuate corruption using their offices.
At a public forum on Monday, July 1, 2024, in Kumasi to mark the 30th anniversary of the Fourth Republican Parliament, Alban Bagbin backed calls for a constitutional amendment to abolish ex gratia payments to Article 71 officeholders.
He said they have become unnecessary and have placed an undue burden on the state coffers.
“So I agree totally with anybody who comes to say that we should do away with Article 71 of the Constitution. It hasn’t served its purpose; there’s no use maintaining it,” he said.
Bagbin bemoans loss of public trust in political leaders
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin, on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, lamented the erosion of public trust in the country’s political leaders.
He said this at the 2023 National Development Conference hosted by the Church of Pentecost at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC) in Gomoa Fetteh in the Central Region of Ghana, where he led the leadership and some Members of Parliament to participate in the event.
The two-day conference was under the theme: Moral Vision And National Development.
In his address, Bagbin lamented what he believes to be the erosion of trust in leaders and the declining public confidence in institutions critical to national development.
He said it was important for political leaders to conduct themselves beyond reproach and to uphold the highest standards of ethics and morality.
Bagbin blasts government over sanitary pad tax
YEN.com.gh reported that Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin criticised the government for maintaining taxes on sanitary pads.
Bagbin said it was wrong for the government to burden women with taxes on sanitary pads.
The speaker of parliament also urged the government to learn from countries that did not tax sanitary pads.
Proofread by Edwina N.K Quarcoo, journalist and copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
