Former President John Mahama has vowed to scrap ex-gratia if given the nod in the upcoming 2024 elections.

Speaking at the launch of his campaign, Mr Mahama explained that this will be part of measures to ensure financial prudence during his administration.

"The payment of ex-gratia to members of the Executive under article 71 will be scrapped. And the necessary Constitutional steps to abolish that payment will start in earnest in 2025," he said.

Ex-gratia payments are regarded as part of the end-of-service benefits for a certain class of public servants — and it is paid every four years.

The category of workers who benefit from ex-gratia payment is Article 71 office holders made up of the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice and other Justices of the Supreme Court of the country.

The rest are Parliamentarians, Ministers of State, political appointees and public servants with salaries charged to the Consolidated Fund, but enjoying special Constitutional privileges.

There have been conflicting arguments about the essence of the payment of ex-gratia to Article 71 Office holders, with some commentators and Governance experts describing the practice as an “unfair arrangement.”

The debate resurrected when it emerged that Togbe Afede, the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, returned an amount of GHS350,000 paid to him as ex-gratia for serving as a Member of the Council of State.

Togbe Afede described the amount as “outrageous” saying it was “inappropriate for a short, effectively part-time work.”

Mr Mahama has also assured Ghanaians that ex-gratia will become a thing of the past.

"We will also begin the process of persuading the other arms of government other than the executive to accept the removal of these ex-gratia payments," he mentioned.

Source: The Independent Ghana