The leader of some four thousand former workers of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) who were retrenched in 2002 without their severance benefits is fuming at former President Mahama for daring to pontificate over ex-gratia.
According to Mr. Stephen Ashitey Adjei, Mr. Mahama’s promise to scrape ex-gratia in the next government by the NDC is fanciful, pompous, and does not gel with Mr. Mahama’s own conduct as a former President.
“Who does not know that since he left office in 2016, Mr. Mahama himself has received ex-gratia. The question is, what made him suddenly come to the realization that fat ex-gratia for former stewards of state like himself is bad?” Mr. Ashitey Adjei fumed in a statement.
But what has even annoyed him the most is that “the same Mahama who has now seen the light after enjoying his ex-gratia, even refused to pay poor ex-workers of the GPHA their severance benefits, not even ex-gratia.”
An angry Mr. Ashitey Adjei pointed out that, “if Mr. Mahama has now really become public-spirited then the first thing he ought to have done was to apologize for depriving the poor ex-workers of the GPHA the peanut that was due them rather than lament about ex-gratia that he himself has already enjoyed.”
Mr. Ashitey Adjei’s anger with Mr. Mahama stems from the fact the over 4,000 GPHA ex-workers who were retrenched in 2002 have remained unpaid because according to them, Mr. Mahama refused to carry through a fiat by former president Mills.
After they had been retrenched in 2002, the ex-workers were left without their severance benefits until the erstwhile Kufuor government left office in 2009.
The ex-workers then appealed to Kufuor’s successor, President Mills who instructed the Ministry of Transport, by fiat, to quickly sort out the ex-workers' issue and pay them.
Unfortunately, however, not too long after that fiat, Professor Mills suddenly died in office and the process of overseeing the execution of the fiat fell on Mr. Mahama, who as Vice President, became president automatically.
“John Mahama ignored us and pushed our issue under the carpet. Because of this, many of the ex-workers have died of melancholy while others have lost their wives and families because of inability to be breadwinners,” Mr. Ashitey Adjei lamented.
Therefore, when former President Mahama attended the 2022 Asogli Yam Festival and commended Togbe Afede XlV for rejecting ex-gratia and promising that the next NDC government led by him will review ex -gratia, it annoyed the GPHA ex-workers.
Their leader, Mr. Ashitey Adjei pointed out that, “after doing this to us, Mr. Mahama joined Kufuor to enjoy their ex-gratia after leaving office. He, therefore, has no right to be pontificating over ex-gratia.”
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Former President, John Dramani Mahama