Wereko-Brobbey demands salary arrears from gov't

Dr. Wereko-Brobbey

Listen to Dr. Wereko-Brobbey © Copyright myjoyonline

Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Ghana@50 secretariat has made an audacious demand for his salary which he said is in arrears for several months.

Dr. Wereko-Brobbey at his third and final appearance to the commission probing into the organization of Ghana's fiftieth birthday on Thursday disclosed he had been paid only 50 per cent of his salary, and hoped payments of his arrears will duly be honoured.

He was engaged with a start-up salary of $5,000 per month which was subject for review, he indicated.

His demands for 38 months salary of work done however drew fervent reactions from the commissioners and supporting staff who were either not impressed with the time frame for which the salary was being claimed, or why he as the head of the Ghana@50 secretariat had not received his salary when his staff had been paid all entitlements.

One of counsels for the commission, Mrs. Barbara Tetteh-Charway who was not too convinced with the additional claims of nine months salary demanded documentations to substantiate the claims.

She was privy to a memorandum submitted by Mr Brobby in which he (Brobby) had been paid half of 29 months salary and was not convinced about his subsequent claims for 38 months.

In a rather 'cold war' banter in which Mr Brobby confessed to calming his tantrums, he said he had “documentations” as well as “physical manifestations” of the fact that he was still at post up until February 7, 2009 and could make them available if counsel so pleases.

Even though the secretariat could be said to be dormant after the official organisations of the AU summit and CAN 2008 nations cup, Mr Brobby said he had to account for his stewardship to the Auditor General and the transition team.

Chairman for the commission, Justice Duose demanded to know why he Dr Brobby had only received half of his salary when staff of secretariat had claimed all payments.

But Mr Brobby retorted, claiming he was more concerned with debts owed contractors, and was even more interested in having those debts paid before he could be sorted out.

After proceedings with the commission, Mr Brobby told Joy News' Samson Lardi Ayenini the total debts in arrears owed him is $216,000

Thursday's proceedings delved into the income and expenditure of the Ghana@50 secretariat.

Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline/Ghana