‘Beggars’ in Parliament: MP expresses outrage

In Britain, Kenya and Nigeria, recent scandals about the ludicrous allowances claimed by Members of Parliament in those countries have largely undermined the legitimacy of their legislative superstructure in the eyes of ordinary citizens.

Here in Ghana, analysts say it will be difficult for Ghanaian voters to punish lawmakers for recent demands for pay increases, particularly when constituents’ financial expectations are also an integral part of the factors that fuel the process.

Although Ghana’s Parliament is currently on recess, it is still very much common to see people at the car parks of MPs parading the corridors of the legislature seeking to make money off lawmakers.

The phenomenon of legions of beggars lining up on the corridors of Ghana’s Parliament to air their financial and personal grievances to their representatives in the law-making House “is reaching a crisis level,” Member of Parliament for Kade, Samuel Ofosu Asamoah, has said.

Ofosu Asamoh has expressed outrage over what he calls “the embarrassing manner in which people continue to make foolish financial demands” on Ghanaian MPs, a situation he says, is forcing some MPs into bankruptcy.

While conceding that he has not done any credible research to back his claim that the situation is “reaching a crisis level,” the outspoken lawmaker told this reporter that “about eighty percent of the people we interact with are people who have come with demands. ..”

He mentioned that some of the demands as “school fees, medical bills, and in some cases bribes for police officers.”

The MP’s frustrations inspired this reporter to produce a thirty minute documentary titled “Beggars in Parliament” to be aired on Citi 97.3 FM next week. In the report, various resource persons discussed the issue of begging in Parliament widely, pointing out the major factors fuelling the problem and suggested ways of reversing the trend.

The Kade MP told The Globe in an exclusive interview that the phenomenon of asking MPs for financial support is worse in the various Constituencies. “Seriously that is why most are not able to go to the villages and their constituencies most of the times because the demand is so high,” he said.

“You wake up in the morning and your house is like a hospital; people line up for consultation and I am talking about people who have come to make all manner of financial demands.”

MPs say begging in Parliament has become a major problem because the actual role of Ghanaian lawmakers is not very well understood by many of their constituents.

The Globe has seen copies of pay slips of Ghanaian lawmakers, which showed that the monthly salary of MPs is a little over 2500 Ghana Cedis. But, as this reporter found out, on the average, most MPs spend well over twice that amount monthly. Much of those expenses according to MP for Ablekuma South, Hon. Fritz Baffour, go into supporting needy constituents. He said: “If you avoid them (beggars) you will lose your seat”.

MP for Kade, Ofosu Asamoah told The Globe that Churches across the country are contributing greatly to the excessive financial pressure on MPs, adding that “bereaved families are the worst offenders.”

He told The Globe that the situation has become “an embarrassment” largely because institutions like the National Commission on Civic Education are failing to live up to their constitutional responsibilities. As at the time of going to press, officials of the NCCE were not readily available for comment.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Mr Vitus Azeem has told this paper that the increasing pressure on the nation’s MPs from their constituents could lead to corruption, saying “some MPs may use illegal means to get...money to satisfy their constituents.” He said the MPs themselves are to blame for making “all manner of promises to voters during the campaign.”