The Ashanti Regional Dean of Presiding Members, Mr. Isaac Ohene-Prempeh, has called for the inclusion of Presiding Members for the various Assemblies around the country into the list of Article 71 Officeholders.
In a write-up, he said that the inclusion will correct an injustice that has been culturalized by the country for a long time.
“At the Assembly which is the heart of the Local Government system, the Presiding Member is the head. However, while the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives are captured as officeholders under Article 71, the Presiding Member is not. This is unfair,’ he wrote.
He added, “we need to take a serious look at this discrepancy and correct it because it goes to the heart of the resourcefulness that can be expected from the Assemblies which constitute the bedrock of government as a whole.”
His write-up comes in the wake of the brouhaha over Parliament’s approval of the recommendation by a Presidential Emoluments Committee for First and Second Ladies to be placed on the same salaries as Article 71 officeholders.
The Professor Yaa Ntiamoah-Baidu Committee had recommended that both serving and former First and Second Ladies be placed on the same salary as Cabinet Ministers, instead of the system in which they are paid quarterly allowances.
However, following Parliament’s approval and government’s implementation of the recommendation, there has been a public uproar with First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Second Lady, Samira Bawumia, returning monies that they have been paid.
Amidst the development, experts have advised that the issue of whether or not First and Second Ladies should be paid salaries should be subjected to a national debate.
“I totally agree with the suggestion for the issue to be subjected to public debate, but in addition to the question of whether First and Second Ladies should be paid salaries, I also submit that the public be made to debate on whether Presiding Members of the various Assemblies should also be categorized and paid as Article 71 officeholders,” Mr. Ohene-Prempeh wrote.
According to him, left to him alone, “all Assembly Members should be categorized under Article 71. However, if that is too much to ask, then at least Presiding Members should be.”