NewzFormer Legal Counsel to the President, Kow Abaka Essuman, has issued an ultimatum to the Ministry of Finance over unpaid salary arrears and end-of-service benefits owed to him following his departure from the Office of the President. Through his lawyers, Vint & Aletheia Attorneys & Consultants, Mr Essuman has asked the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, to ensure that the outstanding payments are settled by Friday, September 11, 2026. The lawyers warned that failure to meet the deadline would leave their client with no option but to pursue the matter in court.
Mr Essuman served as Legal Counsel to former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo from January 2021 until January 7, 2025. He was subsequently appointed acting Secretary to the President in October 2024 while retaining his responsibilities as Legal Counsel. The demand letter states that the benefits include four months’ consolidated salary for every completed year or part of a year served, a one-month installation grant and a resettlement grant equivalent to one month’s salary for each year or fraction of a year served.
The lawyers also want interest on the amount owed from January 7, 2025, calculated at the prevailing commercial bank rate. Mr Essuman’s legal team maintains that other public officials covered by similar arrangements have already received their outstanding entitlements, while former Presidential Staffers remain unpaid. “The continued withholding of our Client’s entitlement is arbitrary, discriminatory, unfair and unlawful,” the lawyers said, adding that legal proceedings would be commenced against the State to recover the principal amount, interest and associated costs if payment is not made by the deadline.
Lawyers for former Legal Counsel to the President, Kow Abaka Essuman, have formally demanded the payment of his outstanding salary arrears and terminal benefits following the expiration of his tenure in January 2025. In a letter dated September 8, 2026, addressed to the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the lawyers said Mr Essuman was appointed Legal Counsel to then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in January 2021 and later appointed acting Secretary to the President in October 2024, in addition to his duties as legal counsel. They said he served until January 7, 2025, when the former President’s tenure ended.
According to the lawyers, Mr Essuman’s appointment entitled him to terminal benefits including “four (4) 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 thereof served. They argued that these benefits, together with outstanding salary arrears, became due to their client at the end of his tenure. The lawyers further cited Section 2(c) of the Presidential (Transition) Act, 2012 (Act 845), which requires the Transition Team to ensure that salaries, allowances and retiring benefits due to specified public office holders are paid “without undue delay.” They alleged that while the Speaker and Members of Parliament, former Ministers and Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs and members of the Council of State had received their respective arrears and terminal benefits, Mr Essuman and other former Presidential Staffers remained unpaid.
“Where persons who served in comparable public offices during the same period have received their applicable benefits, the continued withholding of our client’s entitlement is arbitrary, discriminatory, unfair and unlawful,” the lawyers stated. They said Mr Essuman had made several representations over the matter without success and were therefore demanding that the Ministry of Finance pay the outstanding amount, together with interest from January 7, 2025, at the prevailing commercial bank rate. The lawyers have given the Ministry until Friday, September 11, 2026, to settle the outstanding principal and interest in full.
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