Accra, March 26, GNA - Government on Friday confirmed that cheques for additional payments of emoluments to former Ministers of State have been stopped.

This follows the advice from the Auditor-General's Department that it had detected some discrepancies in the computation of the benefits.

A statement issued in Accra by the Deputy Minister of Information, Mr James Agyenim-Boateng explained that the discrepancies arose following a different computation process used by Parliament in paying Members of Parliament (MP) of the last Parliament as opposed to that used by the Office of the President to pay members of the former executive. It said consequently, the Auditor-General's Department had advised that the Bank of Ghana should in the meantime withhold payments pending audit verification.

Government emphasised that all former MPs and ex-Ministers have received payment of their benefits.

"What is at stake is a claim by former Ministers of State that they were underpaid compared to their colleagues in Parliament who were not Ministers," the statement said.

It said payments were made in categories; the first category comprised MPs who were paid End of Service Benefits, Installation Grants and Resettlement Grants by Parliament.

The second category were MPs who were ministers, who were paid End of Service Benefits by Parliament whilst their Installation Grants and Resettlement Grants were paid by the Office of the President. The third category included ministers who were not MPs, and were paid End of Service Benefits, Installation Grants and Resettlement Grants by the Office of the President.

The statement said there seemed to be a difference in computation between those in the first category as opposed to the other two categories. "Government wishes to assure all interested parties that it will expedite action on the matter, "the statement said.