A former member of the Council of State, Togbe Afede XIV, has expressed his disappointment with the comments of Good Evening Ghana host, Paul Adom-Otchere saying 'some people live by their stomachs'.
According to Togbe Afede, the claims by Paul Adom-Otchere on the number of times he attended meetings as a member of the Council of State, are not true.
Speaking on Joy FM, Togbe Afede explained that contrary to Paul’s claims, he was ‘one of the active participants’ in the Council of State, during his period of service.
He also revealed that even though he was alarmed by Paul’s remarks, he is not surprised because Paul did a similar thing in the past.
READ ALSO : Paul Adom-Otchere lied - Asogli State Council reacts to allegations against Togbe Afede
“He knew me very well. [So it’s] surprising that he of all people, and I don’t want to go into details; will be the one to criticise me. But why am I not surprised? Because he had done something similar before. When I was fighting Agyapa, he granted an interview to the Minister of Finance and sought to denigrate me even in that interview.
By suggesting that I was an employee of Ken-Ofori Atta. When I drew his attention, he apologised that no, no, he knew I was a founder of Data Bank. I said, so why then do you present it as if I was an employee of Ken Ofori-Atta? Again, when we were having a debate about the referendum, that had to be aborted, he again tried to criticise me” Togbe Afede explained.
The Paramount Chief of the Asogli Traditional Area, Togbe Afede further intimated that, “It’s a surprise that he of all people. When I say he of all people, he’ll know why I’m saying I didn’t expect that from he of all people. But unfortunately, some people live by their stomachs in the kind of things that they do. So given my recent experience, I’ll say I’m not too surprised”.
During an editorial on Good Evening Ghana on Tuesday, Mr. Adom-Otchere alleged that based on facts available to him, the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State and former President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede attended only 16% of meetings during his tenure as a member of the Council of State.
Paul Adom-Otchere, said out of the total of 242 meetings of the Council during the period, the Paramount Chief honoured only 48 of those meetings; representing 16%.
The veteran broadcaster made this disclosure while expressing his views on why Togbe Afede returned the ex-gratia which was paid to him.
In his opinion, even though the move has been hailed on social media as a patriotic gesture, he does not understand the essence of the praises which were showered on the traditional leader.
According to Mr. Adom-Otchere, the payment of ex-gratia to Article 71 office holders is captured in the 1992 Constitution, and therefore it was mischievous for Togbe Afede to have returned his, in a manner that seemingly portrayed him as incorruptible.
As result, the Good Evening Ghana host criticised Togbe Afede and urged the public to desist from praising him since the refund of his ex-gratia does not put him on any ‘moral high ground’.
But in his reactions in an exclusive interview with JoyNews, Togbe Afede emphasised that he was not comfortable with the ¢365,000 extra-gratia which was paid to him for serving on the Council of State between 2017 and 2020.
In offering his clarification, he stressed that while working on the Council, he was given his monthly salary and other privileges and therefore the ex-gratia was not necessary.
Togbe Afede added that, working on the Council of State is largely a part-time job, which should not be accompanied by such huge end of service sums.
Meanwhile, the Asogli State Council has also dismissed Paul Adom-Otchere’s claims.