Parliament wants the State to take charge of the provision of cars for MPs
• MPs have been receiving a lot of backlash from the public after it was announced that they are to receive loans to purchase vehicles
• The Public Affairs Directorate of Parliament has issued a statement expressing its unhappiness with the way people have been reacting to the matter
• Ken Ofori-Atta announced a $28 million loan agreement for MPs so they can buy vehicles
The Public Affairs Directorate of Parliament has stated that it is perhaps the right time for the State to take up all the costs involved in providing vehicles for MPs to enable them to carry out their constitutional duties.
Contained in a press release, the Directorate said that since there is so much backlash accompanying the news that MPs are to benefit from a $28 million loan agreement announced by Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, then maybe the time is ripe for the State to be responsible for such requirements for the Members of Parliament.
“Parliament is of the view that given the negative reactions that greet the procurement of loans to purchase vehicles for Members of Parliament to perform their constitutional and statutory functions every four years, perhaps the time has arrived for the country to come to a determination on the matter of providing vehicles to enable MPs to perform their duties and responsibilities,” the statement said.
It continued that, “Maybe it is time for the State to assume total cost responsibility in the procurement, servicing, fuelling, maintenance and replacement of duty post vehicles for Members of the Legislature as is done for the Members of other arms of government and other constitutional creatures.”
Since the announcement of the loan agreement package, several persons have responded, attacking the MPs over the matter.
Kate Addo, who is the Director of Public Affairs at Parliament, had to respond, stressing that the monies are loans and will be paid back, hence no need for the attacks to continue.
“Some of these MPs have their constituencies in remote areas. These people need to have access to their constituencies. Ideally, these MPs have to visit their constituencies at least once a week.
“These loans are paid by MPs themselves, and they are deducted at source. So it is not as though they are going to get them for free. These monies will be recouped,” she said to citinewsroom.com.
The statement from Parliament again stressed how important the roles of MPs are, just as other constitutionally created officials are, adding that without such provisions made available to them, it stresses them.
“Indeed, in previous Parliaments, some Members have had to use end of service benefits to defray costs incurred to purchase vehicles for their official use.
“Understandably, this continues to make the work of the Members of Parliament extremely difficult and lead to misconceptions about the institution and its Members, ultimately, putting the name of Parliament into disrepute,” the statement said.
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