Govt to pay CI 129 gratuity arrears to retired soldiers from Friday

The government of Ghana will begin paying long-outstanding gratuity arrears to retired military personnel under Constitutional Instrument 129, with the first tranche expected by close of business on February 27, 2026.

The Ghana Armed Forces announced this in a statement issued on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. It said the payments follow an agreement reached between the Military High Command, the Ministry of Finance, Ghana and the Ministry of Defence, Ghana, on a two-year phased plan.

In all, 238 officers and 2,155 soldiers, making a total of 2,393 beneficiaries, will receive arrears based on the revised gratuity formula.

Personnel who retired from November 2020 onwards qualify under the arrangement. After the first payment, the remaining amounts will be paid in four instalments between now and December 2027.

The decision follows a directive issued in January 2026 by President John Dramani Mahama during the annual West African Soldiers' Social Activity at Burma Camp.

At the event, he directed the Minister of Finance to release funds to clear outstanding gratuities, stating that arrears exceeding GH¢1 billion were owed to about 3,000 personnel.

President Mahama attributed the backlog to the lack of budgetary allocation after the introduction of CI 129 in 2020. The policy extended the years of service for military personnel and led to higher retirement benefits without corresponding funding.

At the same event, he also announced that new salary scales for personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces would take effect in March 2026, with arrears for January and February to be paid within the same period.

In a statement signed by Captain Veronica Adzo Arhin, Acting Director General of Public Relations, the Armed Forces said the payments would resolve a matter that had remained unsettled since 2020. It added that all future retirements would be processed in line with CI 129.