The demonstrations going on in Tunisia, Yemen, and Egypt are a clear expression of the people’s disappointment in the leadership. The feeling of hardship and the quantum of problems they face daily have been neglected by the leadership therefore the need to demonstrate to the leadership the real who owners of the power they enjoy.
A country with unequal share of the riches, uneven infrastructural and human development with huge gaps between men and women, the rich and poor and the mandate of the people is used as a means of exploiting the very same people on whose behalf that power is being exercised what else will there be but a revolt.
When I heard the proposal of members of parliament for an upward adjustment of their salaries I initially thought, hmm it could be genuine! especially when i could not remember exactly the last time such an exercise was embarked on.
At this time I completely had lost out on one very important detail in the information, the amount being considered as monthly salary if approved. I also wanted to know why in the knowledge of the MP’s should be reviewed upwards.
Members of parliament like other public servants work five days a week and are entitled to some allowance if for some reason the state requires their private time to get something done. They work hard and have families and other relations depending on them for assistance one way or the other. Some of these public officials do not even have vehicles to call their own and some still rent houses they can hardly pay rent without sacrificing their 3 months salary for it.
Suggestions being made by the MP’s to certain quarters for something in the region of ¢7000 a month is yet to be understood by people like us who though we don’t know a lot of maths likes to calculate everything.
Why seven thousand?
My mathematics (which I must admit is not the best though I finally got to pass it) tells me that the new figure will be over 200% increase in the salaries of MP’s.
The reason they give for this shocking demand is that, some electorates make it a habit to demand assistance from the MP's to solve some domestic problems. They also claim that they make funeral contributions and pay the fees of some students in their respective constituencies.
I will like to know, how many Ghanaian workers both in the private and public sectors do not perform any of the above functions which forms the bases for another daylight robbery of the tax payer by the MP's.
Drawing my inspiration from the MP's own logic, a civil servant who works at the ministry of education whose take home pay is ¢300 a month, has a family of his own, will make funeral donations, take care of his brothers orphaned children, some debts to clear and also his own private enjoyment should not be lost in the calculation.
What the MP’s are telling us from the explanations is that the civil servant (with all these challenges) can just walk to government and ask for a 200% increase in salary especially because they carry this burden? This could also mean that like me who works for a private company, when i'm faced with chakkebges such as already mentioned above can just walk to my employer and ask for a raise.
I listened to Hon. Nana Akomeah another MP speaking on Citi fm, and in his defense of this betrayal of public trust Nana Akomeah said in his initial submission that any increment should be at a time when gov’t have been able to improve on the national economy and also increase the size of the national apple for the benefit of more Ghanaians and only then would he prescribe an upward adjustment in salaries. In another breadth this same MP says again that the salary of MP's is an embarrassment and was not fitting of a person with such responsibility.
Ladies and gentlemen lets not forget that at the time of this bombshell by the MP's sections of the Ghanaian public by way of text messaging, call inns, and even some politicians have voiced out their dissatisfaction with the work of parliament while others have registered their disgust in the behaviors’ of some Members of Parliament.
This development however makes the timing of the MP’s bombshell proposal quite alarming because it appears that a lot of Ghanaians are beginning to loose trust in the big house (just like the chieftaincy institution which has almost become market commodity for sale) as a means of checking the executive looking at the caliber of people who occupy such portfolios.
We know of MP’s who approved everything at a particular point in time without proper due-diligence, these are law makers out of which one was tried and jailed for drug trafficking, there are some members reported to have engaged in visa fraud as others are busy getting a “blow job” with a pistol on the woman. Some of these MP’s sleep and dream of their adventures in parliament whilst others simply receive phone calls when the house is still in session.
In order not to deviate its important to look at the constitutional position on MP’s salary. I am yet to come across a section of the constitution where it is expressly stated that as part of the responsibility of MP’s they are to pay school fees of some electorate. Is it not true that these very things they complain of helps them in the event of an election?
How many of us are not aware of the many promises made by MP’s during elections? they tell us everything and bring nothing in the end. Some MP’s sit in parliament for four years and not even his name appears on a question sheet neither will he contribute to discussions on the floor but they still tell us that they have been absorbed by some committee work.
These are people we queued in the burning sun to elect into office vesting in them our powers to make laws and check the executives' spending of the national purse (so the executive don’t take us for granted especially after their mastering over us, showing ingratitude for the honor done them) now want to be themselves our bosses. They want to join in the looting, rendering us even more miserable than we already are!
Are they telling us that the 4x4’s and accommodation plus ex-gratia are not enough; they now want to ride in expensive cars, live in plush neighborhoods with beautiful gardens whilst we are condemned to drink “pure water” and “Kulikuli” every morning?
I honestly think that any gov’t that approves such a disgraceful act concocted to rip the tax payer off should never be forgiven. It’s a shame our MP’s support this but then the question arises;
1. Are our MP’s there for us, themselves or to support the executive in a grand conspiracy to rip us off?
2. What next from them?
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