ASEPA to injunct payment of 'illegal' salaries to First and Second Ladies

Executive Secretary of ASEPA, Mr. Mensah Thompson says the recommendation by the Professor Yaa Ntiamoah Baidoo Committee to pay salaries to the first and second ladies of Ghana is unlawful.

According to him, it would not have been a bad idea to pay salaries to the First and the Second Ladies of the land except that the terms of the Committee was to review the salaries and emoluments of only Article 71 officeholders.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Mensah Thompson maintained that the Professor Yaa Ntiamoah Baidoo Committee does not have the capacity to review the salaries and emoluments of anybody who does not fall under the Article 71 officeholders.

He added that there are certain public office holders that the constitution recognizes as Article 71 officeholders, making the term of reference very clear.

He, therefore, asserted that the Committee does not have the mandate to recommend salaries of the Parliamentary workers, Presidential Staffers and other Public workers let alone presidential spouses.

“Once the recommendation of the Committee is illegal or unlawful, that means any approval from the Parliament or the President is null and void.

"We are going to the Supreme Court and it is not even a matter of interpretation because the constitution is so clear on who is an Article 71 office holder,” he posited.

“It is a matter of constitutional declaration, that the Supreme Court should make a declaration that the Professor Yaa Ntiamoah Baidu Committee went outside its purview to recommend salaries for the First and the Second Ladies . . . the recommendation was unlawful. Once, the recommendation was unlawful, any approval by the President or Parliament is also unlawful and illegal and also null and void," he claimed.

He, however, made it clear that his office, “will also file a motion of interlocutory injunction on the implementation of the Professor Yaa Ntiamoah Baidoo Committee’s recommendation in respect of the salaries of the First and Second Ladies until such a time that the Court will make a full determination of the matter.”

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