![\"Inusah](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/1653506454_565_XGltYWdlc1xjb250ZW50XGw1MnNrODdqaWRfNTMxMjM3MjA0NzYwOV8yNTE5ODA2ODcxNDQ5LmpwZ3wxMDI0fDcyOA-696x495.jpg\" "\\"Inusah")
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Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, says there is no such thing as ex-gratia in the Constitution of Ghana.<\/p>\n
According to him, what is often referred to as ex-gratia by the general public is the retirement benefits Members of Parliament and other Article 71 officeholders are entitled to after serving their term of office.<\/p>\n
Speaking on JoyNews\u2019 PM Express, he argued that calls for the scrapping of the retirement benefits of Article 71 officeholders are misplaced due to the fact that MPs and other Article 71 officeholders are contract workers and as such must receive their retirement benefits at the end of their tenure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no ex-gratia, there\u2019s nothing like ex-gratia. Ex-gratia is a lexicon taken from the ordinary people and put on the payments to Members of Parliament. There\u2019s no ex-gratia in the constitution. The constitution says they should pay you retirement benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He noted that the retirement benefit should not be confused with the Pension scheme Members of Parliament contribute to.<\/p>\n
He explained that while the Pension scheme works on intergenerational equity, the retirement benefit is calculated on the basis of one\u2019s salary.<\/p>\n
The practice he says is common across the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo because you\u2019re a contract worker. You\u2019re working for four years and at the end of the four years you\u2019re gone. So your retirement benefits will be calculated on the basis of your salary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not the case, the principle is quite different. With the greatest respect, it\u2019s all over the world. In fact in Britain it\u2019s called gratuity. Even the court in Apasera called it gratuity.<\/p>\n
\u201cGratuity means you\u2019re working, you\u2019re being paid salary and when your contract ends they pay you a percentage of your salary as gratuity,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
He, however, admitted that said gratuity only benefits public workers at the elite class of government.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree there is some kind of conspiracy and that is what is evoking the anger of the people that you can\u2019t bring together a class of people and treat them differently. So when his Excellency John Mahama was in power, I remember this matter came out very seriously, very prominently, and he thought that committee [Presidential Emoluments Committee] should be a standing committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it should not be at the instance of a sitting President.\u00a0 And any time there\u2019s a new parliament, you don\u2019t need to change the members unless you replace some who are dead or who cannot perform then they take decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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