Asogli State declares 'great termite' Paul Adom-Otchere as an enemy

The Council described Adom-Otchere as a 'great termite' when the latter said the Paramount Chief and the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV should have returned all the salaries he took as Council of State member.

The Asogli State Council in a statement said they could not comprehend Adom-Otchere’s basis of his disparaging remarks against Togbe Afede.

It said "Paul Adom-Otchere has publicly admitted knowing Togbe Afede XIV for some time now, visiting him from time to time and asking for financial and other favours from him. What a great friend Paul had in TOGBE AFEDE XIV.

"We the people of the Asogli State have tracked Paul’s attitude, his beliefs, and style and identified him as a GREAT TERMITE working on the roots of our beloved tree, Ghana.

"The Asogli State is a respected Traditional Area and will not allow evil-hearted people like the kind of Paul Adom-Otchere to denigrate our KING and the "Rising Star" of this country.

"We are therefore declaring Paul Adom-Otchere, as a result of his recalcitrant behaviour, an enemy to Asogli State."

This comes after the Council of State referred an aide to Togbe Afede XIV, Dr. Elikplim Kwabla Apertorgbor, to Section 21 of the Right to Information Act 2019, Act 989, in response to a request the former filed to it.

Apertogbor on June 10, 2022, wrote to the Council of State to request information on "travel allowances paid to members of the Council of State from 2017 to 2019."

The purpose of the request filed under the Right to Information Act, according to the applicant, "is to verify a claim made by Paul Adom-Otchere that Togbe Afede XIV was paid for travelling from Ho to attend meetings for the period he served as a member of the Council of State."

The Council of State directed the petitioner to seek his request from Metro TV as it had already made the requested information available to the media house.

Togbe Afede XIV Pulse Ghana

"Please be informed that the information requested is readily available by another public institution, Metro TV, who requested for same on the 8th of June 2022 and have since put it into the public domain.

"Per provisions of Section 21, of the Right to Information Act 2019, Act 989, you are directed to contact Metro TV for the said information," the response signed by the Finance and Administration Director of the Council of State, Stephen Blay, said.

Togbe Afede XIV should return GH¢365,000 ex-gratia - Adom-Otchere

Earlier, Paul Adom-Otchere on his programme on Metro TV said the return of GH¢365,000 by Togbe Afede which was paid to him as ex-gratia for being a member of the Council of State is not genuine.

He said the revered chief should have returned more than the ex-gratia.

He argued that Togbe Afede XIV only attended 16% of the meetings as a Council of State member yet he collected all his salaries.

"Of the 48 months, the Council of State held 242 meetings of which Togbe Afede XIV attended 39 [meeting]; it constituted 16 percent," Adom-Otchere said while doing a touchscreen analysis of Togbe Afede's letter explaining why he rejected the inappropriate ex-gratia paid into his account.

He explained: "the Council of State is paid every month and he [Togbe Afede] took all his salaries, of which he is entitled to it. In giving us the narrations, he should have stated that he was unable to attend all the meetings of the Council of State, yet he took all his salaries including his car loan, a waiver from Ghana Ports and Harbour’s Authority to import cars…the amount of monies government [took] off the loans that were paid to the Council of State members are more than the GH¢365k he is talking about, for a person who only attended 16 percent of Council of State meetings…

"If you check the Council of State transportation allowances, Togbe’s allowance was paid as of coming from Ho in the Volta region; some of the members told me that ordinarily, he lives in Accra but he said he was coming from Ho.

"Out of 242 meetings that were held [by the Council of State], Togbe Afede, who chair’s a committee and whose meetings are few – as a chairman he was often not available – attended 16 percent of the meetings and he took every allowance…"