The Minority in Parliament has called on the Auditor General to audit the accounts of the Lady’s Foundation – The Rebecca Foundation – in order to reverse funding given the foundation by the state.
The NDC lawmakers are also demanding that an audit of the monies paid to the first lady is made to ensure the amount she has returned to the state is accurate.
Addressing the press in Parliament Tuesday, Deputy Minority Leader and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee James Klutse Avedzi said the Auditor General will be requested to also probe the source of funding for the refund.
“She must also compute the interest that money would have accrued if it were put into an interesting account and pay same to the government. We are calling on the Auditor General to go into the accounts of the First lady to ascertain the money she refunded is indeed the money she received.
“If she is now refunding the money it means she is no longer interested in state funds and for that matter, all state funding of her NGO should be audited by the Auditor-General and all those money should be returned to the state because she is not interested in state money”.
Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo has officially made a refund payment to the government for allowances given to her from January, 7 to date
The payment was made in form of a cheque from a CBG account number 000002.
The payment follows an earlier announcement to pay the monies back to the state.
She also said she does not want any form of financial assistance from the state.
A statement by her office to the Presidency through the Chief of Staff Frema Opare noted that a full refund of GHC899, 097.04 had been made.
This is barely twenty-four hours after Mrs. Akufo-Addo First Lady revealed she would be refunding the money.
The notification letter to the Presidency signed by Shirley Laryea, read “I am directed to forward, herewith, a Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited cheque number 000002 for an amount of GHf899,097.84 (Eight Hundred and Ninety-Nine Thousand Ninety-Seven Ghana cedis Eighty-Four pesewas) being the full refund for monies received from 7. January 2017 to date as allowances given to Her Excellency the First Lady of the Republic.“
“As disclosed by the statement issued on 12th of July 2021 Her Excellency the First Lady of the Republic, is refunding the amount stated above and also takes this opportunity to decline any allowances to be paid to her in the future.”
The statement added, “Her Excellency the First Lady remains committed to her role as First Lady and is devoted to her charity work championing the wellbeing of women and children in Ghana.”