Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s Legal Counsel, Kow Abaka Essuman, has threatened to sue the State if the Ministry of Finance fails to settle his outstanding salary arrears and terminal benefits by Friday, September 11, 2026.
Mr Essuman’s lawyers, in a September 8 letter to Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, accused the Ministry of continuing to withhold payments they say became due following the end of their client’s public service on January 7, 2025.
The lawyers argue that Mr Essuman’s terms of appointment clearly provide for a number of benefits upon the completion of his service.
These include four months’ consolidated salary for every completed year of service or part thereof, an installation grant equivalent to one month’s salary, and a resettlement grant equivalent to one month’s salary for each year or fraction of a year served.
They maintain that the benefits, alongside any outstanding salary arrears, became payable immediately after his tenure ended.
Mr Essuman served as Legal Counsel to President Akufo-Addo from January 2021 and was later appointed Acting Secretary to the President in October 2024 while retaining his position as Legal Counsel.
His lawyers have also cited the Presidential (Transition) Act, 2012 (Act 845), which requires salaries, allowances and retiring benefits due to certain public office holders to be paid without undue delay.
According to the legal team, other former public officials who served during the same period have already received their applicable arrears and terminal benefits.
They cited former Ministers and Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs, members of the Council of State, as well as the Speaker and Members of Parliament among those who have reportedly received their payments.
The lawyers said the situation has left Mr Essuman and other former Presidential Staffers without benefits they believe are lawfully due to them.
They described the continued non-payment as “arbitrary, discriminatory, unfair and unlawful,” particularly because other officials in comparable positions have received their entitlements.
The legal team further stated that Mr Essuman had repeatedly engaged the relevant authorities in an attempt to resolve the matter administratively, but those efforts had not produced a satisfactory result.
They are now demanding full payment of the outstanding amount, together with interest from January 7, 2025, calculated at the prevailing commercial bank rate.
The lawyers have consequently given the Finance Ministry until September 11 to make payment, warning that failure to comply will trigger legal proceedings against the State.
Any court action, they said, would seek recovery of the outstanding benefits, accrued interest and legal costs.
Despite the ultimatum, Mr Essuman’s lawyers indicated that their client remains willing to resolve the dispute amicably if the outstanding payments are settled within the stipulated period.
