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A Private Legal practitioner and former Member of Parliament(MP) for Tamale Central, Inusah Abdulai Bistav Fuseini says a recommendation by the Professor Yaa Ntiamoah-Baidu Committee to pay salaries to the First and Second Ladies would be a big mistake if it is true.

Debunking the claim that the 7th Parliament had approved the recommendation of the Ntiamoah-Baidu Committee to legitimize the allowances paid to the First and Second Ladies, the former Roads Minister said he did not cite the report of the Committee as an active member of the 7th Parliament.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Inusah Fuseini insisted that any recommendation by the Ntiamoah-Baidu Committee to pay salaries to the wives of the President and the Vice President respectively would have been outside the mandate of the Committee.

He noted that the Committee’s work was based on Article 71 office holders to determine their emoluments and privileges.

“ . . in Article 71, you can only find two defining characteristics of public holders, apart from the fact that all of them will be holding office . . . they came into office by election or they are appointed by the President to specific offices. Even Council of State Members, some are elected and others are appointed,” he elaborated.

“The wife of the President and the wife of the Vice President, what specific offices are they holding that is known to Article 71?”, the former NDC MP quizzed.

Describing Article 71 as a closed shop, Inusah Fuseini argued that it is wrong for people to say that the wives of the President and the Vice President are entitled to those privileges.

“Article 71 is a closed shop, and the political office is not sexually transmitted; it cannot be transmitted sexually. So, privileges to the President cannot be sexually transmitted to the wife," he indicated.

He asserted that, "you can call them courtesies given to their wives for being 1st and 2nd Ladies but not privileges”.

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