Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has called on former President John Dramani Mahama to return monies he received as ex-gratia based on principles and good faith, not law.

Mr Martin Kpebu’s admonition to the former President has been described as silly by John Dramani Mahama.

The exchanges between the two sparked when His Excellency John Dramani Mahama served notice of his resolve to cancel ex-gratia payments due to the prevailing economic situation.

Following the pronouncement of Mr Mahama, the private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu asked the former President to return his ex-gratia.

Speaking on TV3 Key Points program monitored by Mynewsgh.com, Martin Kpebu said the country cannot make progress if leadership and persons seeking to lead only act and speak the law.

In his view, some decisions must be taken in principle and good faith but not necessarily on the law.

“Mr Mahama should do introspection and return it as a sign of good faith, that once I have returned the money I am committed. Number two, the amendment he should put into writing.

"Mahama made money whiles as president so he should look within himself and say look ‘I will return it’. He should return it because, in these national elections, they are going to do, hundreds of millions of dollars, where does it come from? They made money so the exgratia is small.

"So he should just tell the people ‘I have grown older, I think I have become wiser, I am returning the money,’ That exgratia he should return it,” he stressed.

But addressing party supporters in the Volta Region on Saturday, March 5, 2023 John Mahama retorted: “If the economy is in crisis why should we continue to take ex gratia when the rest of the public and civil services don’t take it? So, I said categorically that we will cancel ex-gratia.

"And then somebody who should know better, a lawyer, he said, then I should refund all the ex gratia we took before to show Ghanaians that yes, we are serious about canceling it, he does not even know the principle in our constitution that says that you can’t pass retroactive legislative if you pass legislative today, it does not affect what happened in the past, what he says is a bit silly because it is like saying because we have introduced free SHS all of us should go and get a refund of our school fees that we paid in the past. That is how silly what he is saying is.”