Secretary to President Paid ¢45 Million-A-Month

... Secretary to the Cabinet also paid ¢45 million per month ... 5 Special Assistants paid ¢30 million each –Story on P.2 March 29 (Palaver) -- At a time when the people of Ghana are suffering and the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) has embarked on countrywide “Wahala” demonstrations to ventilate the feelings of the people on the hardships facing them, Mr. Daniel Kufuor Osei (alias DK), nephew-in-law of President John Agyekum Kufuor, is earning a whopping ¢45 million per month, denominated in dollar terms as US$4,500 per month, under a consultancy contract entered into between DK and the NIRP (National Institutional Renewal Programme) of Ghana, a copy of the signed contract of which is available to the 'Ghana Palaver'. The NIRP itself is funded by the World Bank through a loan to the Government of Ghana. D. K. Osei, as DK is also sometimes called, is the Secretary to the President. The consultancy contract, renewable annually, designates DK as the Consultant and the NIRP, represented by Dr. Appiah Koranteng, as the Client. DK's “lump sum remuneration” is payable in cedis at the ruling exchange rate on the date of payment. The signed contract documents made available to the 'Ghana Palaver' cover six other officials at the Castle who are on similar NIRP consultancy contracts one of whom also earns US$4,500 or ¢45 million per month and five of whom earn US$3,000 or ¢30 million per month. 'Ghana Palaver' has also learnt that in addition to these whopping monthly salaries, these foreign exchange-denominated salaried officials also are entitled to all the other benefits in cash and in kind that Ministers and other identified officials are entitled to. These include the following:- (i) Duty allowance: 50% of annual salary;
(ii) Entertainment Allowance: 20% of annual salary;
(iii) Fully furnished official accommodation or 20% of basic salary in lieu of official accommodation;
(iv) Official chauffeur-driven vehicle with fuel allocation of not more than 50 litres a week;
(v) Domestic servants (cook, steward and gardener);
(vi) Free water, electricity and official telephone bills;
(vii) Free medical and dental care for the official, his or her spouse and two children. If all these benefits are quantified and added to the monthly lump sum payment, it will bring DK's total monthly payment to in excess of ¢100 million! These benefits are however not a charge on the consultancy contract but are paid by the Ghana Government and charged on the Consolidated Fund. In a rather novel twist of usual contract terms made possible only by the “third party beneficiary” concept of the Ghana Contracts Act of 1960, the NIRP is paying DK for services performed not for the NIRP but for the President as his Secretary, for under Annex B to the contract DK is accountable to the President and shall prepare such reports as the President shall desire. The NIRP under the NDC developed a strategy document called 'Public Sector Re-invention and Modernization Strategy for Ghana: Transforming Vision into Reality” (PUSERMOS), which is funded by the World Bank loan to the country. The NIRP was initiated by the NDC Government in 1994 to “coordinate all on-going reforms in the public sector to enhance the attainment of the policy objective of Government”. However, under the NDC, the NIRP funds were applied strictly to governance programmes and not a pesewa of it was used to pay the remuneration of regular political and public office holders. Mr. J.L.M. Amissah, the Secretary to President Rawlings, and Mr. Bebaako-Mensah, Secretary to the Cabinet, were both on regular Civil Service salary ranges. Giving the background to the 'Scope of Services' of DK's contract, Annex 'A' identifies a major objective of the current development thrust under the Ghana Vision 2020 is “to systematically reduce poverty and promote sustained accelerated growth and equitable development”. This is in spite of the fact that the NPP Government claims to have jettisoned and abandoned the NDC's 'Vision 2020' programme. The Tasks/Outputs required to be performed by 'DK' as spelt out under the contract are the normal functions performed by any Secretary to any Manager. The other officials identified by 'Ghana Palaver' are the following: (i) Annan Arkyin Cato – Secretary to the Cabinet – US$4,500 or ¢45,000,000
(ii) Dan Agyeman – Policy Analyst, Office of the President – US$3,000 or ¢30,000,000
(iii) Samuel Anning – Policy Analyst, Office of the President – US$3,000 or ¢30,000,000
(iv) David Q. Annang – Policy Analyst, Office of the President – US$3,000 or ¢30,000,000
(v) Dr. Samuel Somuah – Office of the President – US$3,000 or ¢30,000,000
(vi) Felix Tettey-Fio – Policy Analyst – US$3,000. or ¢30,000,000.