The General Overseer of the Perez Chapel International, Rev Dr Charles Agyin-Asare has commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his wife Rebecca Akufo-Addo for returning the salaries paid to the latter by the state.
He said the refund shows that the President and his wife have given a listening ear to the voice of the people when they complained against payment of salaries to wives of presidents.
Speaking on the issues that give rise to military takeovers in the sub-region, at the annual security services day of national prayer at the Burma Camp, on Thursday, October 21, Rev Agyin-Asare said despite low motivation and the misconduct of politicians in power, the men in uniform should continue to hold the country together.
“In our sub-region, we are seeing coup d’etats like in Mali, Chad and Guinea.
“These show soldiers who are not under authority but have made themselves authority. Bad as it may seem, I will put much of the blame on the political class of those nations.
“They change the constitution to seek their self-ambitions and increase their salaries without increasing those of the ordinary citizens, many entered into politics without much but in four years they own houses and fleet of cars while the populace lacks basic amenities.
“Once many of these politicians came to power became tin gods who could not be criticized without unleashing their attack dogs on the critics.
“Some governments have also turned the civil and public service upside down by sacking competent people and replacing them with party faithful, some of whom are very incompetent, the government also superintend over economic mismanagement
“In our dear Ghana, we don’t want a coup d’etat. Is it that we don’t have problems as we see in the sub-region.
“We do have the same problems.
“Be content with your wages. It is true that most military and service personnel are poorly remunerated even though your job requires you to defend the citizenry sometimes at the risk of your own lives, it is very unfortunate that your salaries do often not commiserate with your responsibility, that notwithstanding taking bribes ends up affecting the same you swore to protect.
“Please don’t let greed or the love of money drive you to want to do a coup d’etat.”
Nonetheless, he added “our politicians, since last year, seem to be slowly listening to the voice of the citizens. When a committee said the wife of a president and vice president should be paid, when we the citizens said we didn’t want it, the First and Second ladies reportedly returned what they had received.
“When they increased the salaries of the president and his ministers by over 50 per cent when we said no, the president was said to have returned the difference of what was taken this year and to have put a freeze on that of his ministers and of state. It shows they are giving some ear to the voices of the people and that is a good thing.”
Source: 3news.com|Ghana